That was how I worked.
My breathing slowed.
But the thought didn’t leave.
It lingered.
Waiting. Testing me.
Chapter 3
ELENA
My eyes stayed locked on Vin.
They refused to look anywhere else.
Not at the door.
Not at the two men standing by, ready to drag me out and end me without hesitation.
Only him.
Only Vin.
The same boy I had found all those years ago.
Broken. Bleeding. Alone.
Nine years old with eyes that had already seen too much.
I could still see it like it had happened yesterday.
The scrub brush behind my father’s estate.
The way the wind had carried the scent of blood before I even saw him.
The cave—dark, shallow, hidden just enough to be missed.
And inside it...
Him.
A small body pressed into the dirt, shaking but silent—like he had already learned that making a sound only brought more pain.
I had been eight.
Too young to understand what I was stepping into.
Too soft to walk away.
I remember crouching in front of him, my heart pounding so loudly I was sure he would hear it and bolt.
But he didn’t.
He just looked at me.
Those eyes—dark, hollowed out in a way that didn’t belong to a child.
