Chapter 51

• “Are you out of your mind, Crown?” I said, my voice sharp with disbelief as I turned toward him. The weight of Rogan’s confession still hung heavy in the air, the words echoing in my mind. I didn’t need another twist in this tangled mess, but of course, fate had different plans.
• Crown stood in the doorway, his usual confident posture now tinged with something darker. He was a force of nature, always calculated, always in control. But the look in his eyes—the one that now had me questioning everything—was anything but controlled.
• “I thought we could talk,” he said, his voice low, almost too calm, like a predator trying to lure its prey into the open.