Chapter 72

• ZARA POV
• The moment, Hero touched me. The entire game was over, something shifted. It was like a fragile house of cards, built with so much effort and deceit, finally collapsing under the weight of his hand. I could lie easily, spin elaborate tales when no one was watching. I could pretend, become anyone I wanted, even fooling myself sometimes. But his touch, a simple brush of his fingers against my skin, shattered the illusion.
• The walls of my carefully constructed world began to tremble. They swayed, then crumbled, brick by brick. All the lies I'd built, all the ways I'd deceived myself, turned to dust. The air, once thick with the haze of my own manufactured reality, suddenly felt thin, suffocating. My carefully crafted mask, the one I wore so effortlessly, threatened to slip, revealing the truth beneath.