Zayne’s POV
The bed is cold. That’s the first thing I notice when I wake up.
Not an empty cold. Like it’s been that way for a while.
I sit up instantly, every instinct on fire. The room is silent, too silent, the kind that doesn’t belong in a house this large. Aurora always leaves traces of herself behind. A half-folded blanket. A faint scent. Some sign that she exists.
There’s nothing. I said her name once. Calm. Controlled. No answer.
I swing my legs off the bed and scan the room. Her phone isn’t on the nightstand. Her coat is gone. The small overnight bag she never fully unpacks is missing too.
My chest tightens. I move fast through the mansion, checking rooms I already know will be empty. The library. The kitchen. The terrace. Each step sharpens the truth forming in my mind.
She
