ELARA’S POV“One hour,” Maria announced, checking her watch. “Exactly.”I remained perfectly still in the chair, hands folded in my lap, feet flat on the floor, spine straight. I’d been sitting like this for sixty minutes without moving a single muscle. No twitching. No fidgeting. No shifting position even slightly.My back screamed in protest…the wounds from Ray’s beating still tender, even weeks later. My legs had gone numb twenty minutes ago. Every instinct told me to move, to stretch, to relieve the building tension.But I didn’t.I sat perfectly still and stared at the point on the wall Dmitri had designated, and I thought about nothing.Or rather, I thought about everything while making my face show nothing.“You may move now,” Maria said.I stood slowly, carefully, letting blood flow back into my limbs. Pins and needles shot through my legs, but I kept my expression serene.Dmitri was watching from his position by the window. He’d been there the entire hour, observing me like
Last Updated : 2026-02-23 Read more