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I didn’t feel broken.
I felt alive.
A raw laugh tore out of me before I could stop it.
Jessa, still nearby, whooped and pumped her paddle in the air like a victory flag.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” she hollered.
“Not dead yet!” I yelled back, laughing until the sound dissolved into the night.
My arms ached, my feet throbbed, my heart raced. But the thrill swallowed everything else. This—thiswas the edge I lived for. The razor-thin line between falling and flying.
We drifted closer to the Battery, the lights from the city growing sharper, scattering silver across the dark water.
Up ahead, a boathouse and dock jutted out into the harbor, anchored to an estate so massive it almost looked ridiculous against the shoreline.
Dominion Hall.
I knew the name. Everyone in Charleston did.
The place was pure, unapologetic excess.
Pale stone and sprawling grounds, private gates, and a reputation dripping with rumors.
Some said it was old family money, others swore it was new wealth built on something bloodier.
Men who were too young to be that rich, too dangerous to be that quiet.
Private security, black-tinted SUVs, the occasional whispered sighting of men who looked like they could kill you with their bare hands and not lose a wink of sleep over it.
The kind of place you didn’t get invited to unless you were either insanely rich, stupidly brave, or both.
I’d never been that curious. Until now.
On the dock, a cluster of people lingered—men mostly, big and broad-shouldered, the type who looked like they either owned the harbor or fought wars on it.
And a few women, too, tucked close to them like they belonged there. Laughing softly, sipping drinks, their bodies turned toward the men like planets caught in orbit.
I didn’t recognize any of them.
Not yet.
Until I saw him.
Elias.
Standing apart from the rest, arms crossed over his broad chest, wearing that same black T-shirt that clung like it had been painted on.
His blond hair caught the moonlight, and even from the water, I could see the tension rippling off him in waves.
The second he spotted me, his whole body stiffened.
His gaze slammed into mine like a punch, hot and furious.
Jessa caught the shift immediately.
“Uh, oh,” she murmured. “Big Bad Viking does not look thrilled. Is that your guy?”