CHAPTER 155

Jasmin's POV

Breathing was becoming more difficult due to the burden of my personal guilt. It slammed back every time I believed I could push it away, like an unstoppable wave.

For hours, I had been pacing my room in an attempt to get rid of the feeling and persuade myself that what I had done was OK and that I was only a player in the larger scheme of things. However, I knew in my heart that Varya had been deceived by me.

The same Varya that I had once called a friend, who confided in me, and who had trusted me. I could hardly recognize the person staring back at me every time I looked in the mirror these days.

The weight of what she had done appeared to have tormented and emptied her out.

Theo had promised me it would be simple. He said no one would get hurt, that it was all just a game to gain control, to secure his place.

"Nothing would happen to her," he'd said, his voice smooth, coaxing me into his plans like a siren luring sailors to their doom.

And I, desperate for validation,