Braelyn's POV
"What happened to the Vengeful Viper who was wrecked?" That question twisted something ugly inside me.
I opened my mouth, but the words felt heavy, tangled somewhere between guilt and pride. I didn't know what to say. That girl didn't die, she was just confused at the moment.
"I haven't forgiven Raphael," I said, my voice lower now, less certain than I wanted it to be. It was true.
I hadn't forgiven him. Not after everything. His cowardice escalated things.
The betrayal still lived inside me like a scar that never quite healed. The humiliation, loneliness and all the nights I cried myself to sleep while he shared his bed with another woman. None of that had magically disappeared.
But things were no longer as simple as hatred and that was the problem. Lucien watched me carefully, like he could see the fracture spreading through my resolve.
