Elena couldn’t sleep.
The room was dark, the soft glow from the moon casting faint lines across the ceiling. But even with the lights off and the blanket pulled tight around her, her body stayed tense, her mind racing.
Rico’s voice echoed in her head.
“You think you can hide from me?”
Her heart skipped. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to silence it. But it wouldn’t go away.
Instead, another memory came crashing in—his hand slapping across her cheek, the sting sharp and shocking. Her breath hitched. She could almost feel the heat of it again, the way her skin would burn afterward. The way he’d laugh, like it was nothing.
“I told you not to talk back.”
The memory made her stomach twist.
He always said that. Every time he lost control. And his voice—ugh, that annoying, arrogant ton
