Chapter 23 Shattered Walls (Continued)

• The sound of the front door slamming shut echoes through the marble halls like a gunshot. I freeze in the library, my fingers gripping the spine of a book I'd been pretending to read for the past hour.
• He's back.
• Heavy footsteps pound against the floor—uneven, stumbling. Something crashes. Glass shatters. A string of curses in rapid Sicilian fills the air, words so vicious they make my skin crawl.