(SANTINO’S POV)

The door clicks shut with a heavy thud, sealing the room in a silence so thick I can almost feel the pressure against my eardrums. Hailey is gone. With her goes that strange, electric hum that always seems to vibrate in the air whenever she is near. Their footsteps disappearing into the quiet of the private executive wing, leaving me alone with the one person I currently want to speak to the least: my mother.

I lean back against the plush, silk-covered pillows of my bed. ...