I dreamed of fire that nigh.
Not the kind that devours forests or reduces homes to smoldering ash. No, this fire lived in a man’s eyes—sharp and consuming—the kind that wanted to ruin you not out of hate… but out of something far more dangerous. Obsession.
It had a name.
Asher.
I woke gasping, my body tangled in sweat-damp sheets that clung like shackles. My heart jackhammered against my ribs, a wild, panicked rhythm that made me feel like I’d been running through that dream for miles. My apartment above the facility—the so-called safe place I’d built around myself—felt colder than usual, the walls closing in, pressing against me until I could barely breathe. It was like even this place had turned against me, like the very air carried his presence.
Four days.
It had only been four da
