JASPER
I stood at the balcony, one hand tucked in my pocket, and a glass of wine in the other, looking at everything I owned.
The well-carved landscape of the private estate. The serene environment filled with the faint scent of blooming jasmine and the gentle rustling of the wind.
Everything was in order. Except her—
The thought didn’t just come to me; it crashed in and settled, slow but deeply. My jaw tightened slightly.
Quinn.
Thinking about her, even her name felt different now. Perhaps, she was indeed a Queen, and I was the player who let her slip off the board.
I lifted the glass, took a sip, then let it down harder than necessary.
I had always thought that she couldn’t leave. That she endured because she had nowhere to go.
I saw it in her eyes, even the way she would compla
