CHAPTER 397

Serena stood still, unmoving, her face composed in a mask of quiet restraint. Inside, however, she burned.

The air in the room was thick, suffocating, filled with tension so palpable it threatened to snap.

She was watching a scene unfold that she had seen too many times before.

Valerie—the tragic heroine, wilting perfectly in Declan’s arms, every breath shaky, every tear an exquisite drop of suffe