Lucas’s POV
The door barely cracked open before everything went wrong.
A sharp thud echoed through the doorway as the door jamb shot violently from the outside, stopping the door dead in its tracks. The sound was loud…wood rattling against wood like a warning shot.
“What was that?” Avela’s voice cut through the air instantly.
My hand froze on the doorknob.
Every muscle in my body locked.
John let out an awkward laugh, the kind that came out when a man was thinking too fast and too slow at the same time. “Ah—nothing, ma’am,” he said quickly. Too quickly. “Probably just…the door sticking.”
My heart slammed so hard I was sure she could hear it through the wood.
I stayed perfectly still, barely breathing, my palm still pressed against the cold metal of the knob. My mind raced in a thou
