It’s after midnight when Valen tells me to get in the car.
No explanation,No emotion,Just that voice, low, controlled, too careful. The kind he uses when he’s afraid of what he might say if he lets go.
The city blurs past us in streaks of gold and shadow. He drives like he’s chasing a ghost, and maybe he is. I watch his hands on the wheel steady, sure, but every muscle in his arm is tight. There’s something he’s not saying, and I can feel it pressing between us like a storm.
After what happened with Liam, the silence feels heavier than bullets.
Finally, he stops the car in front of an old church.
Stone walls cracked by time. Stained glass shattered in places, letting moonlight pour through in broken colors.
“This is where I was supposed to get married once,” he says quietly.
The wor
