Chapter 29

• “do you really think you can hate me?” ralph whispered to her, his low and hoarse voice sending shivers down her spine
• Gina was about answering when the shrill cry of her alarm tore through the fog of sleep, dragging Gina back to the harsh reality of her sun-drenched apartment. As her eyes fluttered open, she discovered that she had fallen asleep on the couch again while watching TV. the echo of Ralph's husky whisper still clung to the back of her mind, a phantom thread leading back to a tangled, disturbing dream. The sheets felt clammy against her skin, imprinted with the memory of phantom touches, desperate yearnings. Slowly, the details of the nightmare came into focus: the raw anger, the burning betrayal, the insatiable ache for a man who had shattered her world.
• But then, there was Ralph's voice, soft and seductive, weaving threads of doubt. "Do you really think you can hate me?" It was a question that she wasn’t so sure of the answer. Could she truly despise the man who had made her the miserable person she was?