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Chapter 6: Smoke and Shadows.

Author: Maraz_Pen
last update Huling Na-update: 2025-07-10 22:17:03

Riley’s POV

The wind hit harder than I expected the moment I stepped out of the hotel.

It wasn’t cold, just sharp. Like the air itself was punishing me for thinking I could walk away from last night without consequence.

My robe was cinched tightly, but I still felt exposed. Not from the chill, but from what I’d left behind.

Michael Gray.

The man who made my skin burn and my pride bleed. Who offered me a blank check like I was something to be owned. Branded.

My heels clicked against the pavement as I walked, fast, without knowing where I was going. I didn’t care. I just needed to keep moving before the guilt, or worse, the desire, caught up to me.

I didn’t even realize I was crying until a tear slipped past my cheek.

Not from weakness. Not anymore.

From rage. From shame.

From whatever the hell he awakened in me.

I wasn’t that girl. I wasn’t the one who woke up in strange beds with strange men and found blank checks beside my lingerie.

Except I was.

Just this once.

My phone buzzed in my
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