Aria’s POV
A sharp knock rattled my door.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.
I knew that voice.
“Aria! Open up!” Klaus’s voice was sharp, commanding, edged with something I wasn’t used to hearing from him—panic. “Aria, it’s me. Open the door!”
But I couldn’t.
My body refused to obey, frozen in place as the world around me burned. Smoke curled through the air, thick and suffocating. The fire alarm blared, a high-pitched wail that scraped against my nerves.
I wasn’t in my apartment anymore.
I was four years old again.
I was in the forest, my twin brother's blood staining my hands, his lifeless eyes staring at me.
Trapped. Helpless—
The door burst open, and strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me into a solid chest. A familiar scent enveloped me—woodsy, clean, something undeniably
