Page 28 of Broken Crown

My life should have been perfect. But it wasn’t. Far from it.

What time was it? I needed to finish getting ready for the day, but I stayed frozen in place.

My fingers trembled as I traced a fading bruise on my inner thigh—his mark. A reminder that while I might have been thriving professionally, personally I was drowning.

I belonged to Sebastian Diamanti now.

And while I might have just dodged one bullet, literally, I knew with bone-deep certainty that I couldn’t keep playing this risky game forever.

Every night I spent in his bed, every time I surrendered to his touch, I was gambling with my heart, my freedom, and possibly my life.

The question that kept me awake at night—was he worth it?

Fuck. My life was a complete mess.

To top it off, I was still lying to my mother.

She thought I was in Paris working for Édouard Sauvage-Lafleur.

Not that she asked many questions anymore. She barely even called. The woman who used to call me ten times a day to lecture me about the dangers of being in Europe and not safe at home with her now called every other day if at all.

She was too caught up in her new boyfriend. The man she was dating was too much. Too much the gentleman. Too romantic. Too perfect for her.

I was a horrible daughter for not wanting that for my mother. Part of me wanted to be happy for her, but I couldn’t shake the suspicion that Sebastian was involved in her newfound happiness.

Sebastian.

It always came back to Sebastian.

My fingers splayed over my stomach.

He’d openly said he was trying to get me pregnant.

I knew his reasons were not pure.

He wanted a child to bind me to him. Just like he was trying to force his ring onto my finger.

Any other woman in my position would think I was insane to deny him.