Page 113 of Sinfully Yours

And then Dean speaks.

"Let me get this straight." His voice is deceptively calm. "You pretended to date Carter to get back at Vanessa, and in the process, you actually pissed her off enough to start targeting you?"

I force myself to meet his gaze. "Yes."

Dean exhales through his nose, his eyes cutting to Liam. "And you just went along with it?"

Liam doesn't flinch. "It was my idea."

Dean lets out a slow, bitter laugh. "Of course it was."

Heat rises in my chest. "Dean?—"

"No, let me fucking process this, Ava," he snaps. "You didn't think to tell me? Either of you? You didn't think I had a right to know that some unhinged ex of his was putting you in danger?"

My fists clench. "Oh, you mean like how you tell me everything?"

Dean's expression sharpens. "That's different."

"Is it?" I snap. "Because from where I'm standing, you've been choosing what I do and don't get to know my entire life."

"That's not the same?—"

"It's exactly the same." I take a step closer, my breaths unsteady. "If you spent less time trying to control me and more time trusting me, maybe this wouldn't have happened!"

Silence.

Dean stares at me, stunned.

And I realize—he's never heard me talk to him like this.

I feel Ryan and Nate tense beside me, waiting for the explosion.

But it doesn't come.

Instead, Dean's shoulders sag.

Just slightly.

Just enough.

I swallow past the lump in my throat, my voice quieter now. "I'm not a kid, Dean."

He exhales slowly, dragging a hand down his face. "I know that."

No anger. Just something else. Something I can't place.

And then?—

A sharp crack in the distance.

Like footsteps on loose gravel.

Liam is already moving. He reaches for me, his hand gripping my wrist, pulling me back just as shadows shift at the far edge of the site.

"Someone's here," he mutters, voice taut.

I barely have time to process before we see him.

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