She leaned into him, whispering something that made him chuckle—a low, intimate sound I hadn’t heard directed at me in nearly half a decade.

She held him as if she held the deed to his soul.

Daniel’s gaze lazily swept the room and finally landed on me.

The transformation was instantaneous.

The charming, practiced smile on his face evaporated, replaced by a pallid mask of sheer panic.

“Claire,” he choked out, hastily untangling himself from Elena’s grip and taking a hesitant step toward me.

“What… what in God’s name are you doing here?”