Mason
We gathered in Adrian's study, the four of us, in a configuration that felt strange even though we'd sat in that exact room together dozens of times before over the past months, planning security details and treatment schedules and everything else this family had needed us to coordinate. This felt different. Heavier, somehow, despite none of us having said anything significant yet.
Ryder leaned against the bookshelf instead of sitting, arms crossed, the same guarded posture he defaulted to whenever something mattered enough that he needed armor around himself before engaging with it directly. Caleb sat stiffly in one of the leather chairs, hands clasped together like he was bracing for a difficult diagnosis he needed to deliver. Adrian stood behind his desk, though he wasn't workin
