Winter's POV
The drive home felt like an eternity. I couldn’t get Damon’s face out of my head—the hurt in his eyes, the confusion that had clouded his usually confident demeanor. I should have told him. I should have just said the words and let the truth come out, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not yet.
Every time I thought about Kai, the reality of the secret I was holding made it feel like I was suffocating. I wanted to tell Damon. I wanted him to know the truth, but the fear of how he’d react paralyzed me. What if he hated me? What if he left me? What if I lost him? The guilt gnawed at me relentlessly.
It was the kind of guilt that kept me awake at night, twisting my insides into knots. Every time I saw Damon, every time we spoke, the weight of my secret grew heavier. And ever
