Chapter Forty Eight
The first thing I felt was... warmth.
Not comforting warmth, but stifling. The kind that presses against your skin like invisible hands, heavy and hard to breathe through. My eyelids were sluggish, the air tasted like chemicals, and my head throbbed with a dull, numbing ache.
I tried to move, my fingers twitched, my throat burned, and then 1 heard it:
"She's waking up."
The voice was male. Deep. Familiar.
My heart stopped.
No—no, no. I didn't even need to open my eyes to know.
Vincent.
I jolted upright with a gasp, fully awake now, panic exploding in my chest as I whipped my head around. The room was dim, lit by the faint golden glow of sconces on the walls. Soft cream curtains framed the windows—shut. The floors were polished marble. The walls —too pristine. T
