June – POV
Justin took my hand and started leading me toward the door.
We didn't speak. Just walked. His grip was steady, firm—possessive in a way that should have scared me, but didn't. Not yet.
We moved through the corridor, down a narrow set of stairs. The air shifted the deeper we went, growing colder, denser. Reeking of insecticides, bleach, and something sharper—like hospital-grade antiseptic clinging to forgotten sins.
The scent alone made my stomach twist.
But it wasn't the smell that chilled me.
It was him.
Justin's face wore this eerie grin, like he already knew how this night would end. His eyes caught the dim light, and there was a glint there—something wild, something wrong. His whole aura had changed. He didn't feel like the boy who once curled beside me on the orphanage floor. Or even the version who kissed me with trembling lips in the dark.
No.
This was something else entirely.
Dark.
Dangerous.
Deliberate.
I'd never seen him like this before.
