Chapter 123 The Price Of His Name

• Content Advisory: This chapter contains depictions of emotional manipulation, physical violence, and themes of control and power dynamics within a toxic relationship. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
• It’s been a week since our return from the Diallo sector, a week of laying in bed awake past midnight. The mansion feels different at night—empty corridors stretching like arteries through darkness, each shadow a reminder of how alone I feel.
• Efrem’s been even more distant since we returned home. At least in the Diallo sector, we shared a bed, breathed the same air. Here, he’s retreated back into his work, and I remain in a separate bedroom.