Aria’s POV

The world around me was quiet...too quiet. The silence felt like a heavy fog pressing against my skin, smothering me until I could barely breathe. My body was weightless, floating somewhere between life and death, light and shadow.

Then I heard it...a whisper. Low, cruel, and too familiar.

“Still trying to fight me, Aria?”

My heart clenched. That voice… it wasn’t Damon’s. It was his. Zac.

I opened my eyes, and the world burst into flames. I wasn’t in ...