REALIZING THE WEIGHT OF SECRETS

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Chapter Thirty

The air between Seline and Skye was thick with hostility as they walked through the dimly lit corridors. The soft flicker of torchlight cast long shadows on the stone walls, amplifying the tension in the silence between them.

Seline kept her gaze forward, refusing to acknowledge the hatred radiating from the woman beside her. She had noticed it before—the sharp glances, the clipped words, the simmering resentment beneath Skye's otherwise controlled demeanor. But tonight, after everything, she couldn't afford to be distracted by petty rivalries.

Her mind was a tangled mess, replaying the past hours in fragments. Jason's lips on hers, the way he had pulled her close as if he needed her, the way her body had betrayed her by responding. She had gone in ready for a fight, ready to demand answers, not to lose herself in him.

She clenched her fists. Time wasn't on her side, and she was still in the dark. She had entered this place trying to help a patient, trying to understand him, perhaps even trying to heal a small part of herself after being abandoned by the man she had loved for years. But now, she had fallen into something deeper—a web of secrets and deception, where she was a pawn in a game she didn't even understand.

And Jason. Every time she looked into his eyes, she saw a man on the verge of breaking. He was desperate, as though pleading with her to stop, to leave him alone. Yet he was the one who kept pulling her in.

Her heart twisted painfully. She was thinking too much about him. It had to be his looks—his breathtaking features, the way his piercing gray eyes seemed to see straight through her. He was an Adonis, and under different circumstances, she might have admired him openly. She might have even—

"No." She shoved the thought away. None of that mattered now.

The sharp exchange of words between Skye and the guards pulled her out of her thoughts. They had reached her room—her prison in disguise. The luxurious furnishings, the rich fabrics, the golden accents—none of it changed the fact that she was being held here, kept like a well-treated captive.

She listened as Skye issued instructions. "Don't let her out."

Seline resisted the urge to scoff.

Who exactly was this woman? What position did she hold that made her so confident? Skye was undeniably beautiful—her hourglass shape and calculated movements a distraction to every man around her. Perhaps she was Jason's lover.

The thought was enough to send an unfamiliar ache through Seline's chest.

"You don't try to do anything stupid," Skye warned as she stepped into the room.

A thousand sarcastic replies rose in Seline's mind, but she swallowed them down, moving to sit on the edge of her bed. She expected Skye to leave.

But she didn't.

Instead, she lingered by the mirror, arms folded beneath her chest, her expression cold.

"Listen, Seline, this is a warning. Stay away from Lucas. He's mine."

Venom dripped from every word.

Seline's brows shot up in disbelief. Lucas? Was this woman serious? Of all the things she had to worry about right now, some petty jealousy wasn't one of them.

"Excuse me?" she snapped, her anger flaring instantly.

How dare this woman insinuate something like that? Lucas had kissed her earlier, yes—but it had been unwanted. A disgusting, forceful act that made her skin crawl. If anything, she was furious at herself for allowing it to happen at all.

Skye took a step closer, her tone sharpening. "Just a warning. Next time, I promise I won't be this calm."

She pointed a perfectly manicured finger at Seline, her meaning clear.

Then, without waiting for a response, she turned, twisting her hips with exaggerated grace before slamming the door behind her with a loud thud.

From the other side of the door, her voice rang out, dripping with mockery. "Hussy."

Seline sat frozen for a moment, her emotions twisting into a tangled knot of anger, humiliation, and exhaustion.

Then, the weight of everything crashed over her.

She pressed her hands to her face, her breathing uneven.

Tears burned at her eyes, and before she could stop them, they spilled over. She hated this. Hated how helpless she felt, how lost she had become in this mess. She had come here with purpose, but now? Now she was just drowning in a sea of confusion and betrayal.

For the first time in a long while, she let herself break.

And in the quiet of the lavish room, she sobbed uncontrollably.

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Jason stormed out of the palaver hut, his entire body coiled with tension. His jaw was clenched so tightly it ached, his fists curled at his sides.

"Damn it, Simeon."

He wasn't angry because his old friend had spoken the truth. No, he was angry because he knew Simeon was right.

"Tell her the truth."

The words rang in his mind over and over.

Seline deserved that. At the very least, she deserved honesty. But how could he tell her when he couldn't even trust himself around her? Every time he was near her, he lost control. He touched her when he shouldn't. Kissed her when he had no right.

And now? Now he had gone too far.

His breath was unsteady as he ran a hand through his hair, frustration mounting.

"How did I let this happen?"

Seline had been nothing more than a means to an end when she arrived. Just another piece in the puzzle. He had thought himself immune to her—thought he could manipulate her, keep her close without feeling anything.

But he had underestimated her.

She had slipped under his skin without him realizing. And now she was all he thought about.

She was his weakness.

Jason exhaled sharply, tilting his head toward the night sky. The stars above seemed indifferent to his turmoil, twinkling against the darkness like they didn't care that his world was falling apart.

He clenched his fists.

What would Seline do when she learned the truth?

When she discovered what he had done?

A few months ago, the idea of her hating him had been nothing more than an afterthought—irrelevant. He had welcomed it, even. But now?

Now, the idea of losing her, of seeing disgust in her eyes, made something deep inside him break.

"Lord, smite me," he muttered under his breath, his voice raw.

Because he had fallen for the one person he was never supposed to love.

And he had no idea how to stop.

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