Page 66 of Crushed Vow

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He stood there, chest rising and falling.

“You ruined me.” I whispered.

The silence between us grew dense. Charged. Like the moments before a storm.

“Sit, Charlotte,” he said, low but firm.

“Don’t use that voice on me, Cassian.” I turned toward the door, pulse pounding. “We’re divorced. You don’t get to order me around anymore. You don’t get to tell me to sit—not after what you did to me.”

I grabbed the handle, ready to go. “I’m leaving.”

“There’s a war outside,” he said. “There’s a bounty on your head.”

I laughed bitterly. “I’d rather take my chances out there than rot in here with you.”

He said nothing.

“I want the house across the estate. You said it’s yours. Fine—I’ll take it. But don’t you dare step foot in it. Don’t call. Don’t send flowers. Don’t try.”

His jaw clenched, but he nodded slowly. “Fine. But you’re not allowed to have visitors. Not Ethan. Not Vincent.”

“You want me isolated,” I said flatly. “That’s what you’ve always wanted.”

“It’s protection.”

“No,” I shot back. “It’s control.”

He didn’t deny it. Just said, “Take it or leave it.”

I bit my lip hard, fury rising—and yet underneath it, the ache of knowing he was right. I had nowhere else to go. Damn him. He knew I had no real choice.

“I want the key. To the house across from yours. The one you said I could have.”

He patted his chest. “Breast pocket. Come and take it yourself.”

Arrogant bastard.

I crossed the room, every step thick with resentment. My hand slipped into his jacket—and the scent of him hit me.

Clean linen. Smoke. And something darker. Something that used to mean home.

My fingers brushed the metal key, but I didn’t pull away immediately. I felt the heat of him, the way his chest rose and fell beneath my palm. Felt his nearness like a wound reopening.

I hated him.

God, I hated him.

And yet... my hand trembled.

Touching him pulled at a part of me I didn’t want to remember.

A part that still ached for him.

I turned to leave but paused in the doorway.

My voice barely came out.

“And the glasses?” I asked, quietly. “Why are you wearing them?”

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