EMMA
Sleep didn’t come.
It hovered just out of reach, like a hand I almost caught and then lost again. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Gabriel standing in the courtyard—still, controlled, carved out of shadow and restraint. I heard his voice, low and absolute.
You’re the reason I don’t.
That should have comforted me.
Instead, it terrified me.
I lay on my side staring at the faint glow of moonlight creeping across the cabin wall, listening to the estate breathe. The distant creak of trees. The low murmur of generators. Something else beneath it all—something deeper, almost rhythmic. A presence. I couldn’t name it, but I felt it in my bones.
Damien knew.
That realization had lodged itself in my chest and refused to leave. He hadn’t been bluffing. Not entirely. He’d seen something
