Chapter 36 Chains Of Secrets

• Jeremy POV
• The night was cold, the sharp air seeping through the half-open windows of the hotel room, where the silence felt denser than the darkness itself. Rachel lay on the covers, her delicate frame curled up like a child’s, oblivious to the hurricane of thoughts devouring me.
• I watched her, each soft curve of her face illuminated by the faint moonlight, and a sharp pain gripped my chest, an endless void. The fight on the beach still echoed in my head, her every word lodged in me like an accusation I couldn’t refute. She didn’t deserve this—didn’t deserve to be dragged into this swamp of lies and secrets I couldn’t unravel.