I leaned against the doorframe, my legs feeling like brittle glass that might shatter if I shifted my weight too quickly. The bathroom light behind me cast a long, clinical shadow across the antique floor, cutting through the heavy gloom of the bedroom.

Alessandro stopped his pacing mid-stride. He whipped around, his eyes blown wide, searching my face with a desperate, terrifying intensity. The air between us was thick enough to choke on—a suffocating mix of woodsmoke, adrenaline, and the ...