"That night… it was you?!"
The words slipped from Regina's lips before she could even think.
She stared at Waldo, her wide, red-rimmed eyes locking onto his dark ones. In that instant, her heart plummeted into an abyss.
Waldo's lips curled into the ghost of a smirk, but there was something predatory lurking beneath—something hungry. His thin lips parted, his voice smooth and deliberate.
"You can stay here," he said. "Or… think of an excuse to go back to your family. But by dinner, I expect to see you here."
Not a suggestion.
Not a request.
A command.
Regina's body stiffened. She wasn't sure if it was the authority in his voice or the subtle shift in the air around him—like the static before a lightning strike.
Waldo's sharp gaze swept over her for only a second before he turned, stepping past her, his footsteps eerily silent despite his imposing frame.
As he exited the villa, the room seemed to breathe again.