REINA

My scream tore through the apartment like shattered glass, echoing off the walls long after it left my throat.

For one suffocating second, I couldn’t breathe.

I stared at the vicious wound carved across Paolo’s side, raw, angry, and swollen. Thick, uneven stitches pulled the torn flesh together like some brutal attempt at sewing a broken doll. Deep purple bruising bloomed beneath his pale skin, spreading outward like spilled ink. Blood still seeped slowly from the edges.

This was Paolo.

My gentle, soft-spoken Paolo.

The man who kissed my forehead like it was holy ground.

And someone had sliced him open like a fucking meat.

“Jesus Christ…” My voice...