(Evelina's POV—On the Way to the Vinter Mansion)
The city blurred past the tinted car windows—lights dragging into long streaks of gold and red. The world outside felt distant. Muted. Almost unreal.
Inside?
Too real.
Too quiet.
Too close.
Theo sat beside me with the kind of calm that made the air feel heavier. Like he controlled not just the car, but gravity itself. The leather creaked under his arm as he rested it behind me again—easily, casually, intentionally territorial.
I ignored him.
Or… I tried.
My gaze stayed fixed outside as warehouses gave way to high-rise buildings, and high-rise buildings gave way to estates guarded by iron gates and armed shadows.
The Vinter territory.
Theo's territory.
"You're quiet," he murmured.
"Thinking."
"Dangerous," he said with a smirk. "For everyone except you."
I didn't answer. My pulse ticked, steady but alert. Because I wasn't entering an ordinary mansion. I was entering the den of a man who didn't ask for things.
