Serena met Charlton's eyes.
"I did, Charlton. Or I thought I did. He found me when I was broken — when you, the one I thought was my world had turned its back on me, and you were gone. I was pregnant with a child and he… he was so kind to me, he said he loved me. That he'd protect me. He never even questioned, never even doubted, that the one I'm carrying may not be his. When I tried to confess, he never made me. He just made me feel loved and I was his whole world. And I believed him."
He stared at her, something flickering in his expression — disbelief, maybe jealousy, maybe something darker.
"So, you loved him," he repeated, low.
"I was grateful to him," she corrected, voice trembling. "And gratitude is a dangerous thing. It makes you blind. It makes you want to prove yourself worthy of the person who pulled you from the fire — even when that person was the one who set it."
He blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"
