Chapter 13. Demons That Still Lurk

Jacob

I sat in my office, drenched in sweat, my breath shallow and quick. Dread crawled under my skin, seeping into my bones, invading every inch of me until I was cold. The air around me felt thick, suffocating, and each breath I managed to draw seemed to take all my strength. It was suddenly a chore to keep breathing and stay alive.

I paced back and forth, running a hand through my hair, the dim light above the ceiling the only thing cutting through the darkness. I couldn’t bear to be in complete darkness right now. I needed to see something, anything, just to remind myself I was still here.

“Calm down,” I muttered, trying to steady my shaking hands, clenching them into fists at my sides. “Fucking calm down.”

It had been years—years since I’d felt like this.

The last time was when I was fifteen.

I thought I’d outgrown it, that I had put all of it behind me. The fear. The pain. The panic. Why now? Why was it coming back?

“He’s dead,”