It was narrow, with trashcans and garbage littering the ground. The kind of place no one lingered in. For a fleeting second it felt like freedom.
My breaths came uneven and too fast as I stumbled deeper inside, my hand sliding along the cold brick to steady myself while the sharp echo of my heels followed me like a warning, too loud, too exposed.
I kicked my shoes off without stopping, barely noticing where they landed, and kept moving barefoot over the rough ground, ignoring the sting, ignoring everything except the need to get farther away from The Serpent.
Just a little more,I told myself.Just a little farther and I’ll find a way out.
But the alley didn’t open. It ended.
The moment I saw the wall, solid and unforgiving, something inside me dropped so violently it left me dizzy. I slowed without meaning to, my steps faltering as disbelief settled in, because it didn’t make sense, there had to besomething. Another path, a door,anything. But there was nothing except brick stretching upward and outward, sealing me in.
A dead end.
I couldn’t breathe, my chest tightening as my pulse crashed against my ribs in heavy, panicked beats. I turned in place, searching, hoping I had missed something, but the only way out was the way I had come, the long stretch of darkness leading straight back to him.
Think, Chiara.
The words echoed in my mind, sharp and urgent, but every option felt useless the second it formed. The walls were too high to climb, smooth and empty without anything to grip, and there was nowhere to hide except shallow shadows that would offer no protection if someone stepped into the alley.
Ifhestepped into the alley.
A chill slid down my spine at the thought, and even as fear tightened around me, his name surfaced in my mind with a weight I couldn’t ignore.
Leo would come for me.
I swallowed hard, my breath catching as conflicting instincts twisted together inside me, because I knew what I should do. I should go back, compose myself, pretend I had taken a wrong turn and nothing more, because that was safe and expected and controllable in a way this situation wasn’t.
But my body refused to follow reason.
Even now, even with panic clawing at my throat and my heart racing hard enough to make me lightheaded, there was something else beneath it, something warmer and far more dangerous that pulsed through me when I thought about him.
I could still feel the way his eyes had lingered on me, the way his voice had wrapped around me like something tangible, something that held and claimed and refused to let go.
Possession. Ownership. The Serpent’s bite had confused me. Did I really want to run? Was there really a better world out there, without him?
The thought settled deep, unsettling and impossible to ignore, and I hated the way my body reacted to it, the way heat coiled low in my stomach despite everything telling me to run. I pressed my thighs together instinctively, frustrated and shaken by my own response, because none of this made sense. I should have been afraid of Leo, completely and without hesitation.
And I was. Just not enough.
My breath came slower now, heavier, as panic tangled with something darker, something that made the choice in front of me feel less clear than it should have been. The decision pressed in on me, suffocating in its weight, until the faint sound of footsteps reached me from the mouth of the alley.
I froze.
Every muscle in my body went tight as my gaze snapped toward the street, my pulse surging all over again as the sound grew closer, steady and unmistakable.
Time had run out.
“Lost, sweetheart?”
The voice, loud and unwelcome, stopped me cold. It wasn’t Leo’s voice.
I turned too quickly, my pulse spiking as two huge men stepped into my path, blocking the way forward. They didn’tlook like security. They didn’t look like good news. And certainly not like they were going to help me.
“I’m not lost,” I said, forcing my voice steady.
One of them smiled, slow and knowing. “Could’ve fooled us. You walked out of there alone. And you’re not wearing shoes.”
“I’m meeting someone,” I snapped. “Move.”
