I lowered myself from the balcony, inch by inch, the knotted bedsheets burning against my palms. The night swallowed me whole, heavy with silence and the scent of pine. Every creak of the old mansion and whisper of the wind pressed closer, as though the darkness itself conspired to betray me.

Halfway down, movement caught my eye. A figure lingered near the tree line—Ray. He stood too still, too tense, his hands glistening faintly in the moonlight. Blood. My breath hitched. What was he doing ...