NIKO.
I stormed out of the room with my blood still boiling, the door slamming behind me hard enough to rattle the frames on the wall. I didn’t care who heard it. I needed air and some distance. My chest rose and fell like I had just outrun something dangerous, because I actually had. Lies, manipulation and whatever game she thought she was playing, I wanted no part of it.
And then I saw Alex.
She was leaning against the opposite wall, arms crossed, eyes sharp, posture screaming attitude before her mouth even opened. The second our eyes met, she straightened, chin lifting in challenge.
“Well,” she said coolly, “that didn’t take long.”
I stopped walking. “What?”
“You look like you just lost an argument with your future bride,” she replied.
Something in me snapped, not in anger, but
