CHAPTER 57 — THE DAY THE TRUTH BEGAN TO BLEED
Morning arrived reluctantly, as though dawn itself feared touching the Kane mansion. The sky outside was a dull, bruised gray, the kind that carried the weight of unspoken warnings. Elena woke long before the sun fully rose, her eyes snapping open to a silence that felt unnatural. She had tossed through the night, unable to escape the feeling that danger was moving quietly through the house.
For a moment, she lay still, listening.
No footsteps.
No distant voices.
Not even the soft hum of Adrian breathing beside her.
Her stomach tightened.
He hadn't returned to their room.
The space beside her was untouched—no indentation in the sheets, no faint trace of his cologne mingling with the morning air. The emptiness made her chest ache in a way she didn't want to name.
