The silence in the mansion was deafening, broken only by the tick-tock of the antique clock that hung in the living room. Skylar’s heart beat faster with every passing second as she paced back and forth across the marble floor, her bare feet cold against the chill that had settled in the house. Her mind was a hurricane—fragments of worry, fear, and regret tangled together until she could hardly breathe.
Logan’s face from the night before still haunted her. The hard set of his jaw. The way his eyes had turned unreadable, cold as steel. And now, after the chaos online, after the storm of hate comments and mocking headlines, she knew what was coming next—his call.
And then, it happened.
Her phone vibrated violently on the table, lighting up with his name. She froze for a second, her throat
