91

91

Bethany's POV

I wasn't expecting anything unusual this morning.

Just another day, another suffocating routine in Mason's hellhole of a mansion.

Breakfast was a formality. I rarely had an appetite these days, but skipping meals was not an option, not when Mason demanded my presence at the table like I was some prized possession he needed to show off, even to the people who already knew he owned me.

So, I forced myself out of my room, smoothing down the silky nightgown I had been made to wear, one of many humiliating reminders that my body wasn't even mine anymore. My bare feet moved silently against the polished marble floors as I made my way toward the dining room, dreading whatever fresh torment Mason had planned for the day.

And then I saw him.

Adrian.

Walking into his room.

For a second, my mind refused to process it. It had to be a trick. A cruel mirage conjured by my desperation.

But no. It was him.