Two days.
That’s how long I had been trapped here, locked in the strange rhythm of this mansion. Two days of silence, heavy meals I barely touched, and hours staring at the ceiling until my thoughts tangled themselves into knots. I had begun to think the walls themselves wanted to suffocate me.
But that morning, everything was different.
For the first time, the silence wasn’t complete. I heard them. Voices. Laughter. Footsteps echoing down the halls like the pulse of a living house. My chest tightened as I sat frozen on the bed, clutching the blanket. For so long, it had just been me, the butler, and him. Now… there were others.
The door opened.
Lucian stepped inside, tall and dark, and with that same unreadable expression carved into his face. My heart did the usual thing—it sped up
