Amelia’s breath caught sharply in her throat as consciousness clawed its way back. It was a suffocating, cloying weight that lodged deep in her chest, impossible to swallow down. Something primal, raw, surged through her body—a knowing that she was not safe, that every inhale was a gamble. Her lungs refused to obey. Finally, a small, strangled exhalation tore itself free, a thin, quivering sound trembling at the back of her throat.
She opened her eyes with a tiny, hesitant flutter, peering through heavy lashes. The darkness around her pressed too close, unnervingly soft, almost warm. She blinked slowly, letting the world trickle back in—a hazy spill of shifting shapes and muffled sounds.
A car.
Her chest tightened. She was in a car.
The seat beneath her shifted with every turn, the fai
