ELENA'S POV
The ride to Noah’s school felt endless. Silence wrapped around me like a suffocating blanket, my thoughts louder than the hum of the car engine. Justin had said he would be dropping Noah off himself, so I rode in another car with the other maids.
My gaze stayed fixed out the window, the passing scenery a blur.
"It is just a tattoo, Elena. Anyone could have it. A thousand people might bear the same mark." I told myself, clinging to the thought like a lifeline.
But the reassurance rang hollow. My mind would not stop racing, piecing together fragments of a puzzle I didn’t know I was solving. That gnawing sense of familiarity—so persistent since the very first day—suddenly sharpened into focus. This morning had brought clarity, yet it left behind an unsettling residue.
And t
