(Nova’s POV)
The night air stung my face like needles as I stumbled out of that room. My legs wobbled, weak from whatever Zaria had slipped into my drink, but it wasn’t the drug that made it hard to breathe. It was Adrian’s voice—cold and final—echoing in my chest like a death knell.
“Get out.”
Two words. That was all it took to shatter everything we’d built.
They chased me down the hall, tripping over each other in my head as I ran, as if outrunning the sound could make it stop hurting. My heart hammered in my chest, but not from fear—no, it was the kind of ache that cracked bone from the inside.
I didn’t even know where I was running. The mansion’s halls blurred past me, the marble glinting cruelly under dim lights. My hands shook as I tried to call a cab, my phone slipping twice be
