Chapter 282

• Leah's POV
• I jolted awake, my eyes snapping open to a world that spun like a butcher's blade. My forehead pressed hard against the wall, the cold stone biting into my skin, grounding me as nausea clawed up my throat. Sweat slicked my scarred flesh - marks from a past I couldn't outrun, etched deep from the slave market's chains. The air hung heavy, thick with the scent of metal and earth, and I sucked in a ragged breath, trying to steady the hammering in my chest.
• "Mrs. Winters, are you okay?" Ryan's voice cut through the haze, sharp with worry, slithering up behind me like a shadow I couldn't shake.