The mansion looked the same as when I left it. Cold. Silent. Imposing.But something about it felt different as James parked the car and stepped out.
This wasn’t the house I’d been locked inside before.It was something worse.It was the place I had returned to on my own even if I’d been dragged back by fear, by Lorenzo, by circumstance.
James opened the passenger door, but I didn’t move.I sat there, staring straight ahead, my hands curled tightly in my lap.
"Get out, Lila," he said quietly, but there was no mistaking the command in his voice.I climbed out, walking past him into the house. I felt his presence behind me, a shadow at my back.
As soon as the door closed, the weight of silence fell heavy over us.I set my bag down, feeling like the air had thickened, the walls pressing in clos
