-Sienna-

The world stopped spinning.

My dad stood in the doorway, holding a basket of folded laundry, his face calm but unreadable. He looked at me first, then at Jaxon, then back at me again. My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it hurt.

“What’s going on?” he asked, voice steady, eyes narrowing just slightly. “Why are you two in here with the door closed?”

The laundry room shrank around us. The air grew heavy, thick. My throat burned with the scream I couldn’t release. It felt like a bomb was ticking inside the room, each second pulling us closer to disaster.

Before I could even breathe, Jaxon moved....