Chương 69: 69

69

Mason's POV

Suspicion is a slow poison. At first, it's just a tickle in the back of your mind, a whisper of doubt that barely registers. But then it grows, digging in its claws and wrapping itself around your thoughts until you can't think of anything else. That's where I was now—haunted by the sneaking, suffocating certainty that Bethany was hiding something.

It wasn't just her coldness anymore. I could live with that—hell, I expected it. I forced her into this marriage, so naturally, she was going to act like a trapped animal for a while. But this? This was something else entirely.

It was the way she avoided eye contact just a little too often. The way her replies were sharper than necessary, like she was daring me to pick a fight. Most of all, it was the way her scent sometimes carried the faintest trace of Adrian.

Adrian.