Chapter 26 : “Twisted Desires”

*Roanne’s POV*

The door clicked shut behind Aaron, and the silence loomed over me like a threat. The room felt colder, emptier, as if his presence had been the only thing giving it life. I curled up on the edge of my bed, knees to chest, my heart pounding against my ribs.

My phone lay discarded on the nightstand, its screen casting an eerie glow in the dim room. Two missed calls from Michael. One message blinked at me: "I hope you are ok." His words, simple, yet they sliced through the fog in my mind, sharp and poignant.

I let out a strangled sob, the sound foreign and raw in my own ears. Tears blurred my vision, hot and relentless. Aaron... he was Sebastian's shadow, a dark echo of the past I couldn't shake. He said he was not his friend, he said it twice, but I didn’t believe him. No, he used that to manipulate me, he knew I had a crush on him before, and now he acted on that to satisfy his twisted desires.

The pain of betrayal twisted inside me; the ache of leaving Michael for