Chapter 12

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Chapter 12: Unspoken Threats

The storm outside had grown stronger.

The wind howled against the windows, rattling the glass like unseen hands trying to break in. Rain pounded the stone walls, a relentless assault that mirrored the tension settling in my chest.

I stood near the fireplace in my room, arms crossed as I stared into the flames. The warmth did little to chase away the cold weight of suspicion pressing against my ribs.

Nathaniel Montgomery.

The name alone unsettled me.

I had dealt with men like him before—the ones who walked into a room like they owned it, like they carried secrets no one else had the right to know. I had spent enough time around deception to recognize it when I saw it.

And Nate reeked of it.

He was too smooth, too calculated. His arrival at Everdawn wasn’t an accident……