Michael's POV
She stood there radiating fury and heartbreak, and I couldn't bear to meet her eyes without feeling myself fracture down the middle.
None of this had been my intention. I hadn't awakened this morning planning to manipulate the woman I loved into an impossible situation. The thought of using her dreams as leverage to control her actions made my stomach turn.
Watching her recoil from my proposition, seeing the hatred flash across her face when she realized what I was demanding, it ignited something vicious inside my chest.
Yet here I was, trapped in this corner I'd painted myself into. Sometimes love demanded the unthinkable. Sometimes it meant becoming the monster to preserve what fragments remained.
She couldn't comprehend the price I was paying to orchestrate this charade.
Christ, if only she knew. Every moment of this conversation was agony. Every word felt like swallowing glass.
