Sandy's POV
Cold. That was all I felt as his words sank into my bones like winter ice, freezing every nerve in my body until I couldn't breathe properly.
I should have been thrilled. This moment should have transformed everything between us. Instead, emptiness consumed me, spreading through my chest and paralyzing my limbs.
Charles spoke again, his voice tender yet unwavering. "I promise to love you forever."
Those words felt like poison coursing through my veins. They should have made my pulse race, should have melted my defenses. But they delivered only a slow, torturous agony.
I jerked my head back, desperately searching his features for something that might explain this madness.
All I found was the same man who had demanded I leave. The man who had already chosen his destiny.
The one who wanted me to return to Dominic while he claimed Lyla as his mate.
Yet he had the audacity to speak of love?
