Aurora’s POV
I was lying inside my room, as the knock came at dawn, sharp and certain, like it already owned the door.
I was awake. I had not slept. Sleep had become a stranger since Zayne vanished into silence, and lawyers and whispers followed me like shadows. Still, my heart jumped when I heard it.
Some foolish part of me hoped it was him. That hope died the second I saw Jake through the peephole.
I opened the door before he could knock again.
Jake stood there in a pressed gray suit, hair perfectly in place, mouth shaped into that careful smile he used when he believed he was winning. In his hand was a brown envelope. Thick. And heavy.
“Aurora,” he said gently, as if saying my name could soften what he carried. “I came as soon as I could.”
I stepped aside and let him in. The apa
