**Elena’s POV**
The sound of the lock clicking still echoed in the small space as he turned toward me. His eyes were darker than I had ever seen, and it scared the hell out of me.
“Who the hell is Dante to you?” he growled.
“What?” I sucked in a panicked breath, my chest tightening as the air suddenly became impossible to find.
“Don’t play dumb with me,” he snapped, his voice low but trembling with something deeper than anger. "Tell me, who is he to you?"
My heart pounded against my ribs as the lie slipped from my tongue. “I... I barely know him. I met him through you, that’s all.”
Suddenly, the wall exploded next to my head, the loud bang ringing in my ears. I flinched, hands shooting up to protect my head as dust drifted down from the cracked tile where his fist had hit.
"Don’t li
