Chapter 13 The First Bond

• The mansion was peculiarly quiet, except for the sporadic noise of footsteps reverberating through the corridors. I paced back and forth in the opulent room they had provided me, my mind swirling with numerous ideas. Max Carter. Alexander. The delicate, perilous realm I currently lived in. How did I find myself in this situation? Was there any way out of the turmoil that had engulfed me entirely?
• As I looked out the window, a loud, sudden crash echoed from the hallway outside my door. My heart fluttered within my chest. The quietness that previously felt so stifling now appeared as a ticking time bomb. There was something off. I sensed it in the atmosphere.
• I naturally edged toward the door, my heartbeat increasing. A wave of panic tightened around my chest. Living in a perpetual state of fear of uncertainty was one matter; experiencing that fear approach ever so slowly, akin to a stalking predator, was quite another.