**** *Elara’s POV*The bottle cost more than my monthly rent at school.My stepbrother, Caleb, set it on the kitchen island like it was nothing—deep red, heavy glass, label in a language I couldn’t read. Mom and his father were at a charity gala that would keep them out until well after midnight. The house was quiet. The lights were low. And Caleb was looking at me the way he always did when he had already decided how the night would end.I was nineteen. He was twenty-five. We had been crossing lines for months. Tonight he wanted a new one.“Take everything off,” he said. “And get on the counter.”I stripped without argument. The marble was cool against my bare skin when I lifted myself up and sat where he pointed. Caleb opened the wine with a soft pop, poured a small amount into a glass, and tasted it first. He nodded once, satisfied, then looked back at me.“Lie back.”I did. The moment I was stretched out on the island he tipped the bottle. A thin stream of cold, dark wine hit th
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