Page 4 of King of Rage

But they had.

Day after day, she had fallen deeper.

Three years had passed with her wrapped in his sheets, waking up beside him, falling asleep in his arms, and learning the smallest details of his life. His presence had become woven into her every routine. She knew the sound of his footsteps outside their bedroom, the way he reached for her in his sleep, and the low murmur of his voice when he called her name.

Somewhere along the way, Lucius had stopped being a man she was attracted to and become the center of a life she couldn't imagine living without.

She had fallen for him so completely that loving him had begun to feel like drowning.

And then, a year ago, she had finally realized that she could no longer follow his rules.

Not when her feelings had grown far beyond the boundaries of their arrangement. Not when she wanted more from him than he had ever promised to give.

So she had been the one to ask for the breakup.

Even now, she could still remember the moment she had said the words.

She had expected an argument. Perhaps anger. Maybe even an attempt to change her mind.

Instead, Lucius had accepted her decision.

Just like that, it was over.

He had walked out of her life, and Stella had been left behind, struggling to understand how someone who had occupied every corner of her world could disappear from it so easily.

It had felt as though a piece of her had been torn away, leaving a wound that refused to close.

A year had passed since then.

Yet she still hadn't learned how to live with the absence of him.

Stella blinked, and the blurred lights of the city gradually came back into focus.

The memory receded, but the ache it had left behind remained.

She could almost see his face in front of her.

Lucius.

Even when he wasn't there, he had a way of finding her.

He had appeared in her dreams night after night during the months following their breakup. Sometimes, she would wake up convinced that she could still feel his arms around her. Other times, she would reach for him in the darkness before remembering that he was no longer beside her.

The memories of their life together had become a kind of prison.

She wanted to break free of them. Wanted to stop remembering the sound of his voice, the warmth of his touch, and the way he had once looked at her as though she were the only woman in the world.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't escape him.

Her chest tightened.

She lowered her gaze, attempting to steady herself, but the world suddenly tilted beneath her feet.

“Shit…”

Before she could take another step, an arm wrapped securely around her waist.

Her breath caught.