Riviera Hotel – 9:12 A.M.
Selene’s pulse thundered in her ears, too loud and frantic, as though her blood had turned into a drumbeat. The rhythm was violent, unrelenting, hammering against her ribs until every breath came sharp and shallow. The room seemed narrower with each inhale, the air pressing in on her chest, heavy, suffocating, as if the walls seemed closer, bending to hear what was about to unravel.
Cassien hadn’t moved since the words left Leona’s mouth. Not a flicker of muscle, not a shift of weight. He stood there, frozen, an unmoving pillar of silence, and that stillness was worse than rage. Rage she could understand rage meant life, meant fire that could be fought against, argued with, survived. But silence? Silence was betrayal, silence was acknowledgment, silence was the
