Josie
I wanted nothing more than to get away from him. Away from his suffocating grip, away from that sharp, mocking voice that always cut deeper than it should.
"Josie—wait," Liam snapped, his hand closing around my arm before I could slip past. His fingers dug in, not hard enough to bruise, but hard enough to stop me. "You can't just walk away from me like this. You need to listen."
My chest tightened, fury and exhaustion crashing together like storm waves. I yanked my arm, but he didn't let go. "I told you I'm not ready to talk to you," I bit out, my voice rough from holding everything in. "Not now. Not like this."
His eyes burned with irritation. "You think you can just ignore me? That's not how this works. You need to understand something, Josie—your duties come first. Always. Before your emotions. Before your whims. Before anything else."
