Caroline’s entire body shook as she climbed down from the wall, her fingers gripping the rough stone to steady herself. Damon’s words echoed in her mind, each one digging deeper, as if he had reached inside her and left a mark she couldn’t erase.
Stepping back onto the garden’s darkened path, she exhaled slowly, trying to gather her scattered thoughts. She had known this wouldn’t be easy—escaping from a man like Damon Morningstar. Yet she hadn’t expected the strange, twisted connection that seemed to bind them together, an energy between them that felt both magnetic and suffocating.
She couldn’t understand him. Damon seemed as much a mystery as the castle itself, his motives layered and hidden beneath his cold, ruthless exterior. He claimed she was his, as if she were a prized possession
