Chapter 20: An Open Eye Stabbed
STELLA
I didn’t feel like myself, even as Rhys explained himself.
He practically begged me to eat the food he’d made, and I did, but even while he tried to joke or talk about random things, nothing held my attention.
My instincts clawed at me, relentless, whispering that something was wrong—about him. About everything.
I had my mind on one thing only: get out of here and build my f*****g life again. Own the brand I’d always dreamed of.
That dream had existed long before my parents ripped it from me.
Now everything felt dim, stripped of its usual spark. And even if it hadn’t, who was I meant to share it with?
Valerie, maybe. But she was a woman just like me, fighting for her own future.
A brutal job that swallowed nearly eighteen hours of her day,
