Gustave Mackenzie's POV
Silence returned to the vineyard. But it wasn't the same as before.
I stood where she had left me, my gaze fixed on the exact spot where her body had disappeared. The grass was still slightly flattened beneath my shoes.
Evidence of a mistake.
One that shouldn't have happened.
I ran my tongue along the inside of my cheek; the sting from the slap still lingered. It was the second time she had hit me out of nowhere.
No one…
No one dared to touch me like that. Yet she did. Without fear, without her hand trembling… simply, without thinking.
I closed my eyes for a second to regain my composure.
I took a deep breath, letting the air flow in and out with measured precision.
I knew perfectly well that it wasn't the slap that unsettled me. It was what came
