Chapter 549

Chapter 548:

This was no longer a secret she had to uncover. This was a war that had just been declared on them both.

The silence in the massive Collins townhouse was usually comforting, but today it felt suffocating.

Carmen shot up from her chair, the sudden movement sloshing cold tea over the rim of her cup. She began to pace the length of the study, her bare feet making sharp, agitated sounds against the hardwood floor. Her mind was a chaotic storm, Conrad Sterling’s voice still echoing in her skull.

“This is my fault,” she said, her voice tight with self-loathing. “He’s using me. He’s using my past to hurt you, to control you p>

“No,” Justin said firmly, pushing off the desk. “This isn’t your fault. This is my world, Carmen. This is the filth I have to wade through. I just never wanted it to touch you again p>

His words, meant to comfort, only fueled her agitation. She felt like a liability — a walking vulnerability in his heavily armored life. She turned sharply and headed for the spiral staircase, needing to move, to escape the crushing weight in the room.

𝘞𝗵𝗮𝘵 𝖾𝗏eryо𝗇e i𝗌 𝘳еа𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗴 𝘰𝘯

“Carmen, wait,” Justin called after her, his voice tightening with alarm.

Her mind was racing so fast she didn’t notice the slick, polished surface of the top step.

She planted her right foot on the edge of the wood. Her heel slipped violently forward.

Carmen let out a sharp gasp as her center of gravity vanished. Her body pitched sideways. She threw her hands out blindly, her fingers catching the edge of the mahogany banister just in time to stop a full fall down the stairs.

But her right ankle twisted sharply beneath her weight.

A sickening pop echoed in the quiet stairwell. A blinding flash of white-hot pain shot up her calf.

Carmen cried out — a raw, involuntary sound of pure agony. She collapsed onto the wooden step, clutching the banister with white knuckles, pulling her right leg up, unable to bear even an ounce of weight on it.

Justin was there within seconds, having taken the stairs three at a time. When he reached the landing and saw Carmen huddled against the banister, her face pale and contorted in pain, he didn’t hesitate. He didn’t ask what happened.

He knelt beside her, slid one strong arm behind her back and the other beneath her knees, and lifted her effortlessly off the hard wood, pulling her flush against his broad chest.

Carmen gasped at the sudden movement and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder. Her body was rigid with pain, but the solid, radiating heat of his chest was an anchor against the storm of panic and guilt crashing through her.

Justin carried her down the stairs and into the main living room, his jaw set in a hard line. He lowered her gently onto the plush velvet sofa, treating her as though she were made of fragile glass.

“Do not move,” he said softly.