***Big Danni's POV***
Rain hammers the tin roof like a god’s wrath, each drop a nail driving into the coffin of my conscience. I don’t sleep. Not anymore. Not since the night the swamp swallowed Ana whole and I let that venomous lie rot inside Dru’s heart. Not since I became the kind of man who trades truth for survival.
***Thump.***
The sound cracks through the cabin like a gunshot. I’m up, shotgun gripped so tight my knuckles scream, before the echo dies. Lightning splits the sky, bleaching the porch in jagged white light. Shadows twist—cypress knees clawing at the air, Spanish moss writhing like hanged men. Nothing but ghosts and guilt out there.
***Thump.***
Lower this time. Closer. Something slides under the door.
I kick it open, barrel sweeping the dark. Wind slaps my face
