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The poisoned crown

Author: Jay_Chula
last update Last Updated: 2025-05-06 07:58:42
(Armando’s POV)

The night was a carefully orchestrated display of wealth and power, but I could feel the cracks forming beneath the polished veneer. The air buzzed with conversation, champagne flowed endlessly, and alliances were whispered over clinking glasses.

But none of it mattered.

Not when Olivia was slipping further and further away from me.

I had noticed it in the way she moved tonight—graceful, poised, but distant. She wore the dress I had given her, yet there was no warmth in her eyes when she met my gaze. Every smile she offered was measured, every laugh carefully placed, and I hated how easily she made it look real.

She was pretending. I knew that for a fact.

And it infuriated me because I didn’t know why. But there was just something about her that seemed off.

I kept my distance, watching from the periphery, but my focus never left her.

She drifted through the room like a queen without a throne, and yet… she wasn’t alone.

Celeste.

My jaw tightened as I
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