Chapter 12

NORA'S POV

Isabella’s words hung in the air like a loaded gun.

You shouldn’t be talking after what you did.

A chill ran down my spine, and for a moment, I felt the ground shift beneath me. My breath hitched as dread coiled tightly in my chest. What did she mean by that? Could she know?

I forced my features to remain neutral, but inside, panic surged. There were things—mistakes I had made—that no one was supposed to know about. I thought I’d buried them deep, locked them away where they couldn’t come back to haunt me. But now Isabella was looking at me with that same smug grin, like a cat who’d just cornered a mouse.

No. She couldn’t know.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and squared my shoulders. I couldn’t let her see the crack in my armor—not now, not ever.

“What exactly do you think I did, Isabella?” I asked, tilting my head slightly, my voice light but edged with steel.

Her smile deepened, but I saw a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes. She had been bluffing—fishing