The room was quiet, the kind of heavy, post-midnight silence that makes every breath sound like a confession. I was tangled in the sheets, my head resting on Alessandro’s chest, listening to the steady, rhythmic thrum of his heart. It was the only time he felt human—when the lights were low and the world outside these jade walls didn't exist.

"I had a dream once," I whispered, my voice barely a thread in the dark. "Before all of this. Before your mother bought me."

He didn't move, but I ...