A sharp, violent crack tore through the hallway, splintering wood and shattering silence in one brutal stroke. The lock gave way with a scream of metal, the door buckling inward as if it had never been meant to resist him at all.
Raya flinched so hard her body jerked back against the mattress.
The door burst open.
For a heartbeat, she forgot how to breathe.
Adrian Blake stood in the doorway, framed by broken wood and shadows, his tall form filling the space so completely that the room seemed to shrink around him. The dim light from the hallway cast sharp lines across his face, emphasizing the cold set of his jaw, the darkness simmering beneath his calm exterior.
He looked… terrifying.
Not because he was shouting. Not because he was raging.
But because he wasn't.
