CASSANDRA’S POV~
I couldn’t sleep.
It wasn’t just that sleep eluded me… it was like my body refused it. My mind was too loud, too full, and too wrecked to allow something so simple. Not after what Nico said to me. Not after he had brought up my father’s case again… then vanished like a ghost without another word, dragging my sanity with him.
Goosebumps refused to leave my skin, crawling all over me like cold little spiders. My chest began to squeeze tight, painfully tight—like my lungs were trying to escape, it was crawling at my ribs. The ache hit so hard and sudden that I doubled over, clutching the thin, worn sheets to my chest as my body began to tremble.
And then the tears came.
I bit down hard on my lip, trying to silence the sob already climbing up my throat. I couldn’t break—n
