Chapter 12

• The car rumbled softly as Andre steered back onto the road, the tension between us still thick but laced with something else—something unspoken. The headlights cut through the dimming afternoon light, shadows stretching across the quiet streets.
• Andre glanced at me, his expression softening just a fraction. “Did you even eat lunch?”
• The question caught me off guard. After everything that had happened—the note, the mysterious group, the secrets—I hadn’t even thought about food. My stomach chose that moment to betray me with a low, insistent growl.