CH 11
Thunder rolled again… deeper, heavier… like the sky was warning them.
Aria’s breath trembled as Ethan’s words echoed inside her mind:
“Then the truth begins now.”
She didn’t step back.
She didn’t flinch.
Instead… she held his hand.
“Ethan…” Her voice was soft yet steady. “I’m not afraid.”
He looked at her — deeply, intensely — as though searching her soul for even a shadow of hesitation.
But there was none.
His fingers tightened around hers.
“Come with me.”
Aria nodded, letting him lead her toward the narrow hallway at the back of the cabin. She had never been here before. Ethan had always kept this part closed—locked, distant, forbidden.
Tonight… he opened the door.
A cold draft brushed her skin.
The hallway was dim, lit only by a single flickering bulb.
Aria felt Et
