Elena’s POV

I took my medicine and went to bed early that night, yet sleep never truly came.

I drifted in and out of shallow dreams, each one fractured and illogical. Scenes overlapped without order—Damien’s shadowed profile, Stella’s gentle smile, the cold hallway lights at the studio—everything colliding until I couldn’t tell where one ended and another began.

When morning finally arrived, it felt abrupt, almost cruel.

I sat up slowly, a dull ache pulsing behind my ...