It stings at first—sharp enough to make me suck in a breath, but then it starts to blur the edges. Not better. Just quieter. The kind of quiet that only exists when your body has something else to focus on besides fear.
I sink deeper.
Tip my head back against the porcelain.
Close my eyes.
For the first time since last night, no one is touching me.
No one is yelling.
No one is demanding anything.
Just heat. Water. Silence.
My throat tightens on something that isn’t quite a sob.
I slide down farther until the water laps at my chin.
Then over my mouth.
My nose.
And finally, I let myself go under.
Chapter 40
Maksim
By the time I leave NovaRael, I’m already in a black mood.
Luciano Castillo showing up uninvited was enough to sour it.
Adriana making that little comment about Ayla made it worse.
Like she knew something.
Like everyone in that fucking room knew something I didn’t.
I take the bike too fast through the city, engine snarling under me, cold air cutting at my face hard enough to keep me sharp. She wasn’t at the townhouse when I got back last night. Her phone was on my bed. The credit card too. Left there like a message.
Like she thought she was leaving.
I grip the throttle harder.
She’s not leaving me.
She can throw every tantrum she wants. Can glare. Can fight. Can pretend she’s got one foot out the door.
Doesn’t matter.
She’s mine.
By the time I pull up outside her building, I’m already rehearsing what I’m going to say when I drag her stubborn ass back to the townhouse. Something vicious. Something that puts her right back where she belongs.
I get to her door. Try the handle. Unlocked.
I go dead still.
