Aura’s POV
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The moment I heard the door click shut, I shot up like the bed had burned me.
Tears streamed freely down my face, soaking into the pillow I had just been curled into. My chest ached, but it wasn’t from the stinging wounds or the heat rashes. No. This pain ran deeper.
I’d fallen for him. Jesus, I had.
And the worst part? Every single word Leon Kael spoke to me—whether cold, frustrated, or indifferent—cut through me more than my father’s harshest insults ever had. More than every wound I’d carried from living under his roof.
Why am I like this?
How deep have I fallen for a man who can’t even look at me without a wall behind his gaze? And why—why does it hurt this badly knowing he won’t ever feel the same?
I wiped at my cheeks quickly when I heard the doorknob twist. A
