Chapter 9 Desperate

• The morning light filtered through gauzy curtains, but the villa was anything but quiet.
• Elira woke to the sound of hurried footsteps, voices calling instructions, the low hum of power tools. The once-glass and steel walls of the library were now being stripped away. Workers moved with precision, replacing them with thicker, opaque panels. She noticed the tint—Lucien must’ve asked for it. No one would see inside now. No one could watch her again.
• It all felt like it had changed overnight.