The silence that followed was suffocating.
Makayla's pulse thundered in her ears, her hands clenched into tight fists at her sides. She could still feel the lingering presence of Gino, that brief flicker of him struggling beneath whatever had its hold on him. It had been him. Not a trick. Not a hallucination.
He was still in there.
But for how long?
Mikhail stood beside her, his expression grim. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. She could feel it—his doubt, his worry. The same fear gnawed at her too.
Vivienne, however, had no problem speaking.
“Well, that was horrific.” She ran a hand through her hair, exhaling sharply. “I don’t know what’s worse—the fact that he’s clearly been taken by something or the fact that you two actually think we can get him back.”
Makayla’s ja
