78. It Did (Lexi POV)

I lay there, shivering in that ice-cold room for an eternity. Each passing minute drew the heat from my bones, until my entire being was reduced to a trembling mass of frigid flesh. The chilling atmosphere seeped into my soul, rendering everything else into a frozen haze.

Then the door creaked open, its groan sounding like a symphony in my sensory-deprived state. My first instinct was to recoil, anticipating the return of Adam, Luke's father. But then I felt it—heat. Arms enveloped me, arms radiating warmth like a campfire in winter. For a moment, I was too overwhelmed to even care who it was. Those arms felt like a lifeline, pulling me out of an abyss of despair.

As the heat soaked into me, my senses started to awaken, and I became vaguely aware that these arms were slender, and feminine. My eyes adjusted, and I turned to see Kyla lying behind me on the bed, her face stained with tears. The sight of her brought a sense of piercing clarity, like a blaze cutting through fog.

I sat u