Annabelle stirred, her whole body pulsing with a dull ache.

Faint, brutal images of being kicked over and over again floated through her mind, fading in and out like fragments of a nightmare.

Her stomach clenched as she remembered the masked face, the cruel hands, the terrible laughter that had echoed around her.

“You are awake,” she thought she heard a familiar voice say.

She blinked, the dim light filtering through her eyelids, and when she opened her eyes fully, her gaze fell on Dante.

He was sitting beside her, her hand cradled gently in his.

The sight sent a flash of confusion through her. Then anger followed as she...