DOMENICO

Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

Maybe I really shouldn’t have asked her that, because the moment the words slipped off my tongue, the line went silent.

For a split second, I thought Reina had hung up.

But she hadn’t.

She was still there.

Still listening.

Still hearing the sound of my heartbeat pounding like a war drum inside my chest.

It was so loud, so wild, I swore she could hear it through the phone, every frantic thud betraying how completely she owned me.

But she wouldn’t say a word.

Not a damn sound.

And that silence… that silence terrified me.

It would’ve made sense if she yelled,...