THE PROXY BRIDE: His bride. Her Secret.
She let the words hang for a moment before bursting into laughter, the sound rich and carefree, the tension of their secret world lifted briefly by humor.
The room filled with laughter, the kind that was reckless, freeing, and almost dangerous in its volume. Even Amara felt it tug at the corners of her lips, a fleeting smile that threatened to break her carefully maintained composure. The absurdity of the moment—a group of women teasing about love, secrecy, and potential death—was both hilarious and grounding.