Ava’s POV
I unlocked my door with hands that felt too heavy for the keys. The hallway light in the building hummed like a tired thing; the bulb over my door cast the foyer in a soft, tired yellow. My apartment smelled faintly of lemon cleaner and the robe I’d left on the couch. I closed the door behind me and for a moment I just stood there, back against the wood, breathing slow because if I didn’t breathe it felt like my chest would cave in.
Jason had said things I couldn’t unhear. He’d looked at me in a way that suggested everything I thought I was, choice, career, person, was negotiable. He’d smiled his calm, confident smile and told me it was all strategy: the merger, the studio, the legacy. The words were crisp like polished silver, but they cut. I took off my coat in slow careful m
