MATEOI lay there completely still after Elara finished speaking, her words hanging heavy in the quiet room like smoke that would not clear. The rain outside beat against the windows in a steady rhythm that matched the pounding in my chest. She had just told me everything. The girl at boarding school. Her stepmother Guilia falling down the stairs. Lucien choking on that cord. And then the newer ones — Valeria, Luna, and what she had done to Bianca with the nurses and the medications. My mind felt like it was spinning too fast. I should have been horrified. I should have pulled away and run from this woman who had killed so many times without regret. But I did not move. I could not. Because even after all that, I still loved her. The feeling scared me more than anything she had said.Elara watched me carefully with those sharp eyes that saw everything. Her hand rested on my chest like she was afraid I might disappear if she let go. The silence between us stretched on until it became pa
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