Chapter 2

The air inside the Grand Pavilion was thick, a heavy cocktail of popcorn sugar, damp wool, and the electric hum of a thousand conversations pressed together. Outside, the night was a bruised purple, but here, under the vaulted glass ceiling, the world was a kaleidoscope of artificial daylight. We had been walking for an hour, my hand tucked firmly into the crook of his arm, feeling the solid, immovable strength of his bicep against my shoulder. Every time we turned a corner, his grip tightened, just a fraction, a silent claim that sent a jolt of heat straight to my core. He had been watching me. I knew it. From the moment we arrived, when I had stepped off the tram in a dress that was little more than a suggestion of silk, his gaze had been a physical weight, tracking me like a predator who had already decided the hunt was over. Now, the crowd had thinned slightly, the main thrill-seekers rushing toward the towering steel beast of the *Titanium Loop* nearby, leaving us in a quieter alcove near the concession stands. The noise of the park—the screech of brakes, the distant laughter, the thumping bass of the carnival