Eliana leaned in, her breath shallow, agony etching lines on her brow. "What happened three years ago? Tell me."
Rafael let out a sharp breath, his usual strength flickering as old memories clawed their way back.
"Mirabel got to another caregiver," he said, bitterness roughening his voice. "Someone I trusted. Someone I… actually cared about. One day she drove me out, parked the car on a crowded highway, and popped the hood like nothing was wrong. 'Just checking the engine, Mr. Vexley,' she said, all sweet and harmless. Then she walked away. Just left me there—blind, stranded—in the middle of a death trap."
Eliana's chest tightened. She could almost hear the roar of engines, feel the dizzying disorientation of sitting in pitch-black while the world screamed past. "Rafael… you must have been terrified."
