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Emely sighed beside me, staring at Larissa. “What is wrong with that girl?”

Eventually, she followed Bayla, leaving me behind with my pounding heart and growing sense of guilt toward Erik.

“Larissa!” Emely hissed, looking around. Larissa knelt down in front of the door handle. “Stop that!” Emely pulled on her shoulder, but Larissa shook her off and pulled something metallic out of her pants pocket. “We only wanted to check where he lives!” Emely’s eyes widened. “What the hell are you doing?!”

Meanwhile, Bayla looked around, appearing as calm as if she had done this many times before in her life.

I forced myself to get moving and pulled my coat tighter around me, even though the temperature had risen in recent days. It wasn't me who decided when to ignore the cold, let it become part of me, or let it freeze me mercilessly, but my uncontrollable powers.

A much-too-loud click came from the house door.

“Jackpot!” whispered Larissa.

Inwardly, I prayed to the gods that I would get out of here unscathed.

Every step I took on the stone steps leading up to the house felt like I was crossing a line. The thousand butterflies in my stomach, which existed solely for Erik, rebelled as if they wanted to prevent me from entering his life. Because that was what was in this house.

When we reached the door, Emely turned to me.

“Julie,” she said, gesturing toward Larissa. “Tell your friends that they're crazy and that we're all going back to the accommodation together to find a better solution instead of making ourselves liable to prosecution.”

I smiled in my self-pity because I knew that even if I wanted to, I couldn't stand up to Larissa's dominance. I could only hope that he really wasn't home.

If I hadn't taken a vial of Salma before we had come here, I would be shaking, probably freezing the entire ground, and would have run away by now at the latest.

“This is already the best solution,” Larissa hissed, opening the massive wooden door inward. “Here we will find everything that could answer your questions about this man.”

She winked at me, then gestured toward the interior of the house.

Bayla stepped inside, and I forced myself to cross the doorstep, alert.

“Are you coming?” Larissa asked Emely, who seemed hesitant. “Or would you rather stand guard?”

Emely looked around, then hesitantly at Larissa before entering the house as well.

“I'll keep watch from inside,” she huffed, crossing the dark ground floor to one of the huge Victorian pointed windows behind a large sectional couch, through which the sparse moonlight penetrated. “If I see even one person walking through this residential complex, I'll drag you all out of that window back there.”

Larissa closed the door with a laugh.

“Don't worry. We'll be gone in half an hour.”

Great. Larissa really wanted to spend thirty minutes here. What was she planning to do? Did she want to search everything? Could I allow that?

Lost in thought, I looked around, not really daring to step further into the open floor plan.

My gaze followed Bayla's flashlight as it illuminated the ground floor.

Erik had many plants, the furniture was dark, and the shelves were full of books.

Bayla stopped in front of a bookcase. I followed her.

“Look at this place!” Larissa exclaimed, turning around her own axis and pointing up to the mezzanine-style floor.

Emely turned to the window, shaking her head.

My gaze swept over the spines of the books, searching for a sign of Erik. And indeed, illuminated by the flashlight, I spotted one of the books I had sent him.

I swallowed.