Chapter 104 Screams In The Storm

• Rachel POV
• The police station’s waiting area was a suffocating haze, its fluorescent lights flickering like a dying pulse, the air heavy with the stench of stale coffee and desperation. I sat slumped in a chair, my body trembling, my face buried in my hands, the echo of my screams against Celine still ringing in my ears, the sting of our fight a faint pulse beneath the crushing weight of my grief. Scarlett knelt beside me, her hands on my shoulders, her voice a soft murmur of comfort that felt like chains, her pity a wound that bled with every word. Nick stood a few feet away, his back rigid, his silence a wall between us, his earlier rage now a cold, unyielding shame that refused to meet my eyes. Jeremy was gone, cuffed and dragged away, his love for me branded a crime, and Celine’s performance as the betrayed fiancée had sealed his fate, her lies a noose around our future.
• Scarlett’s voice broke through my haze, firm but trembling, her hands guiding me to my feet.