**ELENA’S POV**
The study door is still closed when I finally gather the courage to leave my room. I walk down the hallway slowly, barefoot, my heartbeat tapping against my ribs harder than my footsteps. I pause outside the door, hesitating.
The last time I saw him, he looked broken. And dangerous. And human in a way that terrified me.
I lift my hand to knock.
Then I hear his voice inside.
Low. Quiet. Weighted with something heavy.
“Yes. Elena.”
My breath stops.
Someone speaks back, faint through the wood. A woman. Professional. Detached. I recognize the tone from the old interviews the prosecution used years ago. A profiler. One who studied Adrian when everything first fell apart.
Her words are clear enough that they slice through the room and straight into me.
“Then she is the
