Serafina’s POV
When the lights went out, I did not scream.
I wanted to.
The darkness fell over the villa in a way that felt deliberate, like someone had reached inside the walls and pressed a switch with slow fingers, but the sound that came out of me was only a sharp breath that caught halfway in my throat.
Matteo moved before I could think.
His hand found my waist in the dark, firm and steady, and he pulled me closer to him as the faint buzzing outside faded into the distance like it had never been there.
“Stay still,” he murmured near my ear while guiding me backward slowly until my hip touched the edge of the dining table.
“Is it him?” I whispered while gripping his shirt tightly because the dark suddenly felt too large.
“It is a disruption,” he replied quietly while reaching i
