~~Elena~~
I shoved Carlos away so hard my own hands trembled.
“Don’t… don’t ever do that again,” I said, my voice shaking more than I wanted it to. I didn’t even look back at him as I ran upstairs.
My heart was hammering, my throat tight. Why did it feel like I’d been caught cheating? I’m not even his. Alejandro isn’t mine. And yet… my whole body burned with guilt as if he were.
“Alejandro…” His name spilled from my lips the moment I came closer to him. It sounded like a prayer and a plea at once. “I didn’t mean to—”
I stopped.
Why am I explaining myself to him? Why does his opinion feel like life and death?
“Come with me, Elena,” he said, his voice low. Not angry. Not loud. Just low, certain, and impossible to disobey.
I followed him before I could even think about it.
The moment
