Ethan's POV
The corridor stretched before me like a tunnel carved from shadow. Each step felt heavier than the last, the velvet runner swallowing the sound of my boots. Yet Lila's hand stayed locked around mine, pulling me forward with that unshakable certainty she always wore. She didn't glance back once. She didn't need to. Her grip was a leash around my wrist, a reminder that tonight, for reasons I couldn't name, I was tethered to her.
But Soraya's voice still clung to me.
Why me?
It was soft when she asked it, almost broken — but the question pressed against my ribs now like a blade. I'd left her behind in that room, yet she hadn't left me. Her eyes, her scent, her pain — all of it burned inside my skull. I wasn't sure what terrified me more: that I might never escape it, or that someday I would.
