~ Lucian’s POV

I couldn't stop thinking about Bella.

No matter what I did or how much I tried to distract myself, her anger and hurt echoed in my mind like a broken record. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the pain in hers, the betrayal. It was suffocating, and I knew I was the cause of it.

She had every right to be upset. I kept a huge part of myself hidden from her. And for what? To protect her? Or because I was too afraid of what she might think of me, the real me? The beast.

After our ...