**Elena’s POV**

Dante dragged me down the stone stairs, my feet barely touching the steps.

My heels skidded across the ground, and my shoulder slammed into the iron railing with a sickening thud. A white-hot flash of pain shot down my arm, leaving my fingers numb. His grip was iron on my wrist, his thumb digging deep into the bone until I thought it would snap.

This was real!

It finally dawned on me that if I didn't put up a fight, it might be the end of me. I had escaped him last time by a ...