Chapter : Smoke and Silence

The world tilted.

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. The three words on Rose’s pillow burned into my skull like a brand.

She is mine.

Lucien was already on his knees beside the bed, tearing through the sheets, as if our daughter might be hiding underneath, as if this were some sick prank.

But it wasn’t.

The open window, the shattered glass, the message—it was all real.

She was gone.

And Wallace had taken her.

My scream started low, from somewhere deep inside my chest. But I swallowed it, forced it down, because screaming wouldn’t help. Not now. Not when every second we wasted was one...