I couldn’t breathe when we got home.

The entire ride back from the hospital left my nerves twisted so tightly I thought they’d snap. Carl’s mother talked nonstop about her ankle—how it “nearly fell off” and how the doctor “clearly didn’t know brilliance when he saw her”—but all I heard was Damon’s words echoing inside me.

You belong to me.

I replayed it again and again as we stepped into the mansion. Carl walked his mother to her room, fussing, and Damon disappeared ...