Chapter 113

• Charlotte felt the question hit like a slap, raw and accusing. Who were you with? As if she were some faithless shadow, slipping through his world of suspicion. Why does this man always doubt me? She thought, fury coiling tight in her chest, but her lips stayed sealed—words would only feed his fire.
• She stepped aside, brushing past him without a glance, her shoulder grazing his like a spark on dry tinder. The air thickened with his cologne, dark and invading, but she kept moving, pushing into their bedroom. The door loomed behind her, a fragile barrier.
• It stung him like rejection from his own throne. The insult burned through Howard's veins—her silence louder than any retort, her stride dismissing him as if he were nothing. Rage ignited. He stormed after her, the door slamming shut behind him with a thud that echoed their fractured vows.