Chapter 97.
Clara’s POV.
My body slumped into Maxwell’s arms as he carried me, the warmth of him pressing against me both terrifying and comforting at the same time. I could feel the solid weight of his chest beneath my head, the tension in his muscles, the raw anger still simmering in the set of his jaw, the rigid line of his shoulders. He looked like he could crush someone with a single thought… like he could obliterate anyone who had dared harm me. My heart thumped painfully, my lungs shallow, as the reality of what had just happened clawed its way through me. I had survived… but barely. And the shame of it… the fear… it all pressed down on me like a heavy stone.
If only I had listened to him… if only I had allowed him to guide me… perhaps none of this would have happened. Perhaps h
