#Chapter 11: Payback

ELENA Mason studied me carefully, his gaze searching for something I wasn’t ready to give. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. “Seeing Derek again…It must have stirred up a lot.” I sighed and stepped off the elevator. Mason and I were in nearby rooms on one of the higher floors of the venue. As we got to his room he fiddled with the keycard, trying to get it to work. I leaned against the wall outside his door. “I’m fine, Mason. Really.” He looked up from what he was doing, his lips pressed into a thin line, his disbelief clear. “Elena, you’ve been avoiding Logan—a man who would do anything for you—and now this. If you don’t still have feelings for Derek, then what is it?” I hesitated. It wasn’t that simple. I had no intention of going back to Derek, but Mason was right—something in me had twisted when I saw him. Not out of love, but out of anger, resentment, and the deep, unshakable pain of betrayal. And maybe—what hurt so badly—desire. “I don’t have feelings for hi