Evelyn's POV
I had already fallen hard enough once—hard enough to leave cracks I was still trying to hold together—and there was no way I was going to let myself walk blindly into another trap.
No matter how gentle it seemed.
No matter how safe it tried to feel.
“Thank you… for tonight,” I said, forcing steadiness into my voice as I reached up to push lightly against him, putting space between us before I lost the resolve to do so. “I should go.”
But his hand at my waist didn’t loosen in the slightest; it held firm, unyielding, like a lock that had already decided it would not open, no matter how gently—or insistently—I tried to push against it. I had no choice but to add a bit more force, pressing harder this time in an attempt to break free.
Instead, he reacted in a way that caught
