Chapter 53

Author's POV

Adrain couldn’t find peace—not even for a second. Sleep was a stranger now, and the silence of night had turned into a cruel tormentor. He paced like a man possessed, the soles of his shoes whispering across the hardwood floor, back and forth, again and again, as if movement alone could outrun the anguish tightening his chest. But the weight wouldn’t budge. It sat there—dense, cold, relentless. How could he rest when the only person who had ever made him feel whole—Matthew—was gone? Not dead. Not confirmed. Just... vanished. Like smoke into the wind.

And that, somehow, was worse.

The walls of the dimly lit study pressed inward, more prison than sanctuary. Shadows trembled in the corners, cast by the flickering light of the fireplace. The grandfather clock ticked on with cruel indifference, each second a taunt, each minute a deepening cut. Adrain’s heart beat louder than the ticking—no rhythm, just a war drum of dread, rage, and an aching kind of helplessness.

He yanked o