CHAPTER 17: The Turning Point

　　Victoria's POV

　　The room had grown unbearably quiet after he left, my thoughts had started to scream in my mind and I just wished I could shut everything out.

　　I thought he was different. For a brief, fleeting moment, I had convinced myself that the arrogant man who saved my life might have been more than he seemed. But his confession shattered that illusion. Perhaps Lily was right; I was naive, I fell for people's games too easily.

　　I stared at the ceiling, my mind churning, my heart aching, my head hurting, and my body trembling.

　　But as the minutes dragged on and the silence deepened, something inside me began to shift. The tears stopped falling, the pain dulled, and in its place, a cold, simmering anger took root.

　　They thought they could break me. They thought I would crumble under the weight of their lies and schemes.