Chapter 24

I woke up next to Angelica, the morning sunlight filtering through the curtains and casting a gentle glow in the room. Gently nudging her awake, she mumbled in her sleep, showing signs of reluctance to wake up. Retrieving my phone from the nightstand, I found an overwhelming number of messages from Zane—twenty in total.

"It's not what it looks like," I read aloud, my voice filled with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. Angelica stirred next to me, her drowsiness dissipating as she became aware of the situation. "Is that Zane?" she asked, her voice groggy but alert. I nodded, confirming her suspicion.

Curiosity piqued, Angelica pressed me further, her eagerness evident. "What else did he say?" she inquired, now fully awake. I continued reading the messages aloud, the words from Zane providing snippets of an explanation. "He didn't know she was in town, but they ran into each other in Pandora..." I trailed off, momentarily puzzled by the mention of Pandora.

"What was