SLOANE
Those three days didn’t just pass. They settled into me.
By midday on the fourth day, the condo felt less like a cage and more like a pause button on the world. Sunlight poured through the tall windows, bright and honest, landing on the hardwood floors and the silver ornaments on the Christmas tree. Outside, the city moved fast. Inside, everything slowed down.
Adrian shifted again that morning.
I sat cross-legged on the rug this time, closer than before. Too close, if I was being smart. But I wasn’t trying to be smart. I wanted to understand him. All of him.
“Tell me before you start,” I said.
He nodded. “Always.”
I watched his hands clench. His shoulders rolled back. His face went blank, but his eyes flicked to me, checking. Asking without words if I was still okay.
I am,
