The words reverberated in Mara’s mind with a chilling finality—Rafael’s spying on you.

Sleep eluded her like a ghost slipping through her fingers. Every rustle in the garden felt like an assassin lurking, poised to strike. Shadows danced beneath the door, transforming into looming threats against the dim light filtering through the curtains. She lay rigid, cocooned in the vastness of the bed, the luxurious silk sheets wrapping around her like a funeral shroud.

As dawn’s hesitant ...