Chapter 43

The night air wrapped around Erica like a cool embrace, sharp and refreshing against her skin. She stood on the balcony, her arms wrapped around herself, looking out over the city that never slept. The skyline was a twinkling sea of lights, but it felt distant, as though it existed in another world—one where life was simpler, and her days weren't haunted by the weight of her past and her father’s legacy.

Her mind swirled with thoughts of everything that had transpired over the past few weeks: the list of enemies, the documents her mother had left behind, the twisted games Ophelia played. And Julian—Julian, whose presence had come to mean so much to her, and yet whose secrets were still a chasm between them. The tension in her chest was suffocating.

She pressed her fingers against the railing, grounding herself as her thoughts churned. There were times she wasn’t sure where her father's legacy ended, and her own life began. A storm was brewing, and she was right at its center.

The soft