The message had haunted her all night.

Every time she closed her eyes, those four words blinked behind her eyelids like a curse:

We need to talk. -S.

By morning, she couldn’t take it anymore. She left before her mother could ask where she was going, ignoring breakfast and the pale sky hanging over the city like fog. Her driver didn’t even ask questions when she told him the address Santino’s private estate on the north ridge.

She’d only been there once. It looked more like a fortress ...