Chapter 24 - Shadow of Desire

Orion's POV

I watched from the upstairs window as she left with him. Ava—laughing, leaning into Connor, her face flushed with that carefree glow that felt like poison.

My hands tightened on the sill until my knuckles went white. I didn’t know why I was standing there, why I felt compelled to follow. But the very thought of her with another man sparked a fury so deep, so fierce, that I couldn't turn away.

She doesn’t have the right to be happy—not after what she did to my family, after she dragged me back into this mess. She forfeited that chance a long time ago.

But there I was, slipping into the shadows, following them through the crowd. I kept a safe distance, my eyes tracking her every move as if on instinct, like some part of me refused to let her go.

Every laugh, every smile she gave him felt like a dagger to my pride. I tried to tell myself it was about control, about keeping her on a leash. That’s what this was—me asserting my authority. Nothing more.