Madison’s POV
Charity’s warning rings in my ears long after she leaves me alone in my room.
“Don’t do it,” she had said, her eyes wide, her voice trembling with the weight of her concern. “If Dylan finds out, he might abandon you. He might… ruin you, Maddie. And what then?”
Her words replay again and again, but the more I think about them, the more my chest tightens—not with fear, but with a kind of stubborn clarity. She doesn’t understand. This isn’t about what Dylan might do. This is about me. About my conscience, my dignity, and the bond between us that has been tangled and heavy ever since that night.
I can’t live with this secret any longer.
Even if Dylan hates me. Even if he calls off the engagement. Even if my reputation crumbles and I’m left standing alone while Zoey and every
