Winter’s POV

I hesitated, then lifted it, sipping just enough to be polite.

“You’re very quiet,” one of the investors said, smiling at me. “Does he keep you on a tight leash?”

Derek answered before I could. “She doesn’t need one.”

The words settled heavily in my chest. I kept my expression neutral, eyes lowered.

As the evening stretched on, I felt it. That strange, crawling sensation at the back of my neck. Like being watched. Like something old and buried had shifted.

I told ...