You slip out of bed, carefully removing yourself from Gabriel’s iron grip. His arm, heavy and warm, slides off your waist as you hold your breath, praying he doesn’t stir.

The weight of your decision lingers in the room like a ghost. You can’t do this anymore. This wasn’t right. You needed space. You can’t get attached—not when this entire marriage is nothing more than a business transaction. A facade. A lie.

His voice from this morning echoes in your mind, sharp and cruel: “She’s just a step in our plan, and she knows it.”

It had been said so casually, so dismissively, as if you were nothing more than a pawn. Your chest had ached hearing those words, even though you told yourself they shouldn’t matter. You knew what this was when you agreed to it. But that didn’t make it hurt any less.

You tiptoe across the room, gathering your belongings in the dim moonlight that streams through the window. Every creak of the floorboards feels like thunder. Sweat gathers on your forehead as you zip your suitcase shut, trying to stifle the sound.

You reach for the door, your fingers trembling against the cold handle. Freedom is so close you can almost taste it—until the air shifts.

The hairs on the back of your neck stand on end as you feel him behind you, his presence like a storm rolling in. Gabriel’s shadow looms over you, his gaze burning into the back of your head.

“What do you think you’re doing?” His voice is low and deep, the kind that demands answers.