Chapter 82: Shattered Glass
The darkened screen hit Elias like a physical blow.
He clutched the phone in both hands and folded forward slowly, spine curving until his forehead nearly touched the leather seat. By the time his knees hit the floorboard he was curled in on himself, shoulders hunched, the device pressed tight to his chest as if it might shatter if he let go. The slap he had delivered still echoed in his palm, but the real weight was lower, somewhere behind his ribs, pressing every breath into something thin and strained.
Serena Blackwood's cheek burned where his hand had connected. The heat pulsed through half her face, but anger wasn't the first thing that surfaced. She heard him first.
The whisper was faint, almost lost beneath the low hum of the engine and the rain tapping the windows, yet in the sealed quiet of the back seat it cut straight through.
"Giselle… Giselle…"
Serena's pupils shrank to needle points.
