Chapter 24 A Taste Of Defiance

• Ivy sat on the edge of the massive bathtub, toes brushing the warm water as steam curled upward like ghostly fingers. The silence in the suite was loud, oppressive, and heavy with unspoken tension. It clung to her skin like the dress she hadn’t yet taken off—the red one Damien insisted she wear.
• Her fingers trembled as she unzipped the dress.
• It slipped off her like blood from a wound, pooling at her feet in a dramatic puddle of scarlet. Her reflection in the mirror was still that same stranger—defiant eyes, flushed cheeks, and lips bruised from kisses she hadn't asked for but hadn’t stopped either.