Night settled over the villa like warm velvet, wrapping the space in shadows and soft silver light. The stars scattered across the sky in gentle clusters, glowing like tiny lanterns drifting above the dark stretch of ocean. The infinity pool reflected the moon in a perfect, trembling circle, disturbed only by the small waves the wind created across the surface.
I stood barefoot near the edge of the pool, arms folded around myself, letting the cold tiles cool my skin. The argument from earlier still pulsed through my thoughts in scattered pieces. The panic in the forest. His voice when he found me. The way anger and fear had mixed into the same sound.
He cared about the outcome.
Chase appeared through the sliding doors a few minutes later. He walked slowly this time, not with the sharp s
