Chapter 21 Fractures Widen

• The apartment was too still. Even the hum of the refrigerator seemed loud against the silence pressing in. Élise stood frozen in the kitchen, her hand still hovering over the empty wine glass she had been about to put away. Her ears strained for the muffled cadence of Antoine’s voice through the closed office door.
• She couldn’t hear the words clearly, but she had caught that name. That name is from the blackout. The one that had sliced through her chest like a blade, proof that whatever haunted Antione was not just a shadow. It was flesh, bone, and danger circling closer.
• Her pulse thudded in her temples. She wanted to storm into the office, demand answers, scream until he told her everything. But something in his voice, low and rough with strain, kept her rooted.