Bound by the Past, Locked by the Heart novel Chapter 280

The suffocating darkness of the night utterly devoured the final flicker of reason in the room, leaving behind nothing but harsh, ragged breaths, broken moans, and an endless, tangled collision of bodies.

As consciousness slowly bled back into her mind, the first thing Willa registered was the intense, aching soreness pulsing through her limbs.

It had been far too long since she last experienced this level of intimacy, and her body was brutally unprepared for it.

She slowly opened her eyes. Clothes were scattered chaotically across the rug beside the bed, hopelessly twisted together.

A few discarded foil wrappers tossed carelessly into the wastebasket stood as glaring evidence of their frantic, unbridled madness the night before.

She lay completely still.

Something like this naturally required a moment to process.

Suddenly, a warm arm slid across the mattress, casually draping itself over her waist.

Willa's breath hitched for a split second. Instantly, a toxic cocktail of nausea and deep-seated repulsion seized her chest.

Her voice was dead calm when she spoke. "Take your hand off me."

Those six words mercilessly severed the last thread of pathetic hope lingering in the man beside her.

The arm wrapped around her waist recoiled as if burned.

Randal shot up in bed, frantically scrambling to explain, his voice trembling and entirely incoherent.

"Willa, last night... you were drugged, I... I didn't mean to... I know I shouldn't have, but I..."

"I know," Willa cut him off, her tone so flat it was devoid of a single ripple of emotion.

She slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position. As she moved, the sheets slipped away, revealing the undeniable, bruised marks painting her collarbone and shoulders.

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