Rodriguez?! How is he here? How did I get here?
My heart pounded. “What… what are you doing here?” My voice was barely a whisper, a mixture of fear and disbelief.
He smirked, crossing the room slowly, almost like a predator. “I could ask you the same question, Ariana. But, well, you don’t seem to remember much, do you?”
I swallowed, flashes of Victoria’s face, the restaurant, the wine replaying in my mind. “Victoria… she… I don’t understand. What is going on?”
Rodriguez raised an eyebrow, his expression almost pitying. “Ah, Victoria. She played her part well, didn’t she? You walked right into the trap, Ariana.”
The weight of his words sank in, each one like a punch to the gut. I’d trusted her, let her get into my head. And now, here I was, with no memory of how it had all spiraled so
