Rain clung to the marble driveway, reflecting the cold lights of the mansion like fractured glass. I smoothed my trembling hands over the fabric of my coat.

The front doors opened.

And there he stood. Luca DeRossi. Taller than I’d imagined, immaculately dressed in black, his expression unreadable. His eyes were dark and distant, as if I were a stranger who had simply wandered into his world by mistake.

He stepped aside, a silent command to enter the vast, shadowed foyer.