Chapter 81 Shadows In The Glass

• Ariana could not sleep.
• The city outside Damien’s penthouse pulsed with restless light, neon bleeding across the tall windows and breaking against the surface of the glass. She stood barefoot by the pane, the cool marble floor beneath her toes anchoring her to a night that felt too heavy to carry.
• Her reflection stared back at her in the glass. Pale face, hair falling loose over her shoulders, eyes ringed with exhaustion. She almost did not recognize the woman looking back. A woman who had loved, lost, clawed her way out of cages built by men with money and cruelty, and still, somehow, kept standing.