I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep until I woke to the sound of distant footsteps, soft enough that they barely registered, but loud enough to tug me from whatever dream I’d been drifting in. The room was still dark when I blinked my eyes open, the only illumination the faint glow from the hallway slipping under the door. For a moment, I didn’t remember where I was. The bed was too soft, the sheets too smooth, the ceiling too impossibly high. Then it clicked—and everything inside me snapped awake.
Ray’s mansion.
Everything from earlier returned in a rush—the sprawling hallways, the guarded gates, the way he’d spoken with that steady calm that almost convinced me he wasn’t dangerous. Almost. I pulled myself upright, pushing a hand through my hair. The memory of his words echoed faintly in
