Chapter 53

One week later…

Another week had passed. Seven long days of silence where Dan remained unmoving, tethered to life but not to her.

Each morning Marcy woke with the same fragile hope, and each night she folded herself back into sheets that smelled faintly of him, whispering promises to a man who could not hear her.

The Villa never slept. Men moved through its halls like shadows, speaking in clipped