Author’s POV
The room felt smaller with every passing second.
Dim light flickered from a single bulb overhead, casting long, uneven shadows across the cracked walls. The air was heavy—stale, suffocating—like the space itself had been forgotten long ago.
Bella sat restrained to the chair at the center of it all.
Her breathing was uneven, her chest rising and falling too fast as she tried to keep herself together. Strands of her hair clung to her damp face, her vision still adjusting after the blindfold had been ripped away. Her wrists strained against the ropes, but she had already learned it was useless.
Amelia stood in front of her.
Calm.
Too calm.
That unsettling composure made everything worse.
“You keep asking me to stop,” Amelia said softly, tilting her head as if she were ge
