Chapter 30

• Claire's POV
• The sky had already dipped into a thick shade of indigo by the time I reached the lodge. Every step felt heavier than the last, like my body wasn’t just tired — it was burdened, weighed down by a thousand invisible chains.
• When I pushed open the door, the familiar scent of old wood and linen filled my lungs. Without thinking, I tossed the file I had clutched all the way from work onto the rickety table by the entrance. Pages slipped out slightly, but I didn’t bother fixing them. It was just another script, another project I didn’t have the energy to look at right now.