The night air was thick, wrapping around me like a weighted blanket.

I exhaled, long and slow, my breath barely making a dent in the chaos of my mind. My fingers curled over the balcony railing as I stared at the pool below. The water shimmered under the golden glow of the lights, but my chest felt tight, my stomach unsettled.

I shouldn't be here.

This wasn’t my world.

I wasn’t built for parties like these—where power dripped from the walls and people moved like chess pieces, calculating ...