As Zane folded his clothes into the luggage, he felt his body tense from the effort it took to keep his emotions from spilling out in front of her.
The deal they had made earlier still unsettled him, gnawing at his core. It wasn't supposed to turn out this way. No, it was never meant to happen like this.
At the beginning, all wanted he wanted for her was a life of torment which he had carefully planned and calculated down to the last detail. But everything was unraveling, slipping through his fingers, spiraling beyond his control.
He wasn't supposed to compromise—not the grief, not the pain, not the suffering, and certainly not the revenge that had kept him breathing. He wasn't supposed to forget his teenage self, trapped and crying in silence, just because his adult self was selfish enough to want something forbidden with the daughter of the man who had destroyed everything that defined him. This desire was one he should never have wanted.
