Daphne’s POV

They say war ends when one side stops fighting.

But no one ever tells you what happens when you can’t stop when every breath feels like a new battlefield.

And lately, I was tired of fighting.

The first note came two nights after Christian returned from Charles’s mansion.

A plain white envelope slipped under my door.

No return address. No smudged fingerprints. Just five words scrawled in neat, deliberate handwriting:

“Withdraw from the custody case or lose everything.”

I ...