Cole's POV
He nodded, satisfied. He had no idea how close I was to ripping his throat out.
I stepped out of the room and let the door close behind me.
The hallway felt cold. I inhaled deeply, trying to steady the rage under my skin.
Esme was somewhere in this building. Probably terrified. Probably crying.
And I couldn’t go to her. Not yet.
If I broke this character even once, everything I’d built—this entire illusion of memory loss, the leverage I was gathering, the careful plans I was carving out—would shatter.
I needed Nolan to trust me. I needed him blind.
But another voice in my skull whispered, furious: He will pay for every second she cried in that room.
I walked down the hall with my hands in my pockets, pretending to be calm, pretending to be bored, pretending to be the m
