Isabella's POV
The forest did not welcome me. It swallowed me.
One moment, the manicured edge of Dante’s world was at my back, the next, I was enveloped by a suffocating blanket of darkness, the trees closing ranks like silent, judgmental sentinels. The moon, which had seemed so bright over the open grounds, was now just a fragmented coin glimpsed through a tangled web of branches.
The initial burst of adrenaline, the frantic flight from the mansion, still coursed through my veins like a drug. It made me reckless. My heart was a wild drum against my ribs, not just from exertion, but from the terrifying, exhilarating knowledge that I was free. Every rustle of leaves was a guard’s footstep, every snap of a twig was the c*****g of a gun. So I ran. I didn’t look at my crude map. I didn’t c
