Lucas let out a slow breath, shaky but clearer. "You don't think I'm cursed? Haunted?"
Trevor tilted his head down, kissing his temple once. "If you are, then I'll be cursed right alongside you."
Another breath. This one steadier. But what followed was anything but.
"Christian was one of the worst," Lucas said, voice barely above a whisper. "Nobody came to save me. Not Caelan, not Serathine, no one."
Trevor's entire body went still.
Lucas didn't stop. Couldn't stop now that the door was open.
"At twenty-one, I met him. Christian. And for a while... I thought maybe I could be happy." His voice cracked—not a sob, but something rawer. Like his ribs were splintering from the inside.
"He was kind. Gentle. He said all the right things. Touched me like I mattered. Like I was wanted. And I was so desperate to believe it. After everything Misty did—after being told I was just a body to sell—I clung to that fantasy."
