Gabriel’s body froze. The words echoed in his ears like gunfire, each syllable striking sharper than the last. He slowly moved towards her, dread tightening around his chest.
“Who… who is here?” he asked, his voice low, thick with tension and confusion.
Isabella’s eyes, wide and searching, flitted over him, then past him, as if scanning for a phantom only she could see. Her lips quivered, and her hand lifted weakly, pointing toward him in an instinctive plea.
Gabriel stepped closer, his heart hammering with a mixture of fear and hope. “Isabella… look at me. It’s me. Gabriel. You’re safe. Nobody’s here to hurt you.”
Her gaze lingered on him, unblinking, as though her mind was trying to reconcile the fear she had carried with the reality before her. Slowly, the terror in her eyes began t
