Chapter 29: After the Storm
The rain did not stop until dawn.
By the time the first gray light of morning spilled across the ridge, the clearing around the cabin looked like a battlefield. Mud sucked at the earth in deep pools, broken branches littered the ground, and crimson streaks of blood had already begun to fade into the soil, washed away by the storm.
Elena stood at the porch rail, clutching a blanket around her shoulders. She was trembling, though not from the cold. The night’s chaos still throbbed in her chest—the rush of fists, the sound of flesh meeting bone, the way Marcus’s eyes had locked onto hers like a predator savoring its prey. She could still hear his words echoing through her skull.
Have you told him, Elena? Have you told him why I’m here?
Her stomach twisted. No
