Ineedto go home.
Ineedto shower off this dress, this night, this feeling that I’m unraveling at the seams.
And I need to wash away the evidence of what happened between Sin and me, even though I know his touch has marked me in ways water can’t reach.
I pull out of the parking lot, heading toward my apartment. The morning sun turns everything bright and shiny, but it feels more like a spotlight on my guilt than a promise of a new day.
My apartment.
Neutral ground.
A place where I can be Victoria again, even if just for a few hours. Where I can try to remember who I was before Sin’s hands rewrote every rule I thought I knew.
The drive feels both too long and too short. When I finally pull into my building’s lot, I sit for a moment, gathering the courage to face myself in a mirror because I know what I’ll see there.
A woman caught between two worlds. A cop who’s protecting criminals. A sister who’s forgetting her brother’s face. A person who doesn’t know which name is real anymore.
Victoria or Elizabeth.
Elizabeth or Victoria.
Betrayer or savior.
I don’t know which one I am.
Maybe I’m both.
Maybe I’m neither.
Maybe I’m just someone who’s in too deep to find her way back.
I gather my things and head inside, every step heavy with the weight of secrets I’m carrying. A hot shower is calling my name, promising to wash away at least the physical evidence of my choices, even if it can’t touch the guilt that’s settled into my bones. But as I climb the stairs to my apartment, I know one thing for certain—when I go back to that clubhouse,and I will go back,I’ll be crossing a line I can’t uncross.
The only question left is whether I’m strong enough to do what needs to be done.
Or if I’ve already lost myself completely to the man I’m supposed to be destroying.
Chapter Eighteen
ELIZABETH
The sequined dress feels like a costume I can’t shed fast enough. I peel it off the moment I stumble through my apartment door, the fabric snagging on my hips before pooling at my feet like evidence. The silver threads catch the morning light streaming through my window, and for a moment, I just stare at it—this beautiful lie I wore while crossing every line I swore I wouldn’t.
My hands shake with adrenaline.
They haven’t stopped since I left the precinct.
Get it together, Victoria… Elizabeth.Whoever the hell you are.
The bathroom mirror reflects a stranger back at me. Smudged mascara creates dark shadows beneath my eyes. My hair is still pinned from the night before, a few strands falling loose around my face. There’s a mark on my neck—faint, but unmistakable.
Sin’s mouth, Sin’s teeth,Sin’s claim.
I press my fingers against it, and my stomach clenches at the memory.
I should feel disgusted with myself.
I should look at that mark and be repulsed.
