Morning came like a thief. I woke to pale light filtering through the blinds and Adrian’s steady heartbeat beneath my cheek. For a brief, impossible moment, I allowed myself to imagine we were somewhere else—far from Daniel, far from lies, far from the endless weight of fear. Just a man and a woman lying tangled in the softness of dawn.
But reality pressed back quickly. The cot was narrow, his wounds were bound with fresh bandages, and the antiseptic tang of the clinic stung my nose. I shifted carefully, not wanting to wake him, but his arm tightened instinctively around me.
“Don’t go,” he murmured, voice hoarse with sleep.
My throat tightened. “I’m not going anywhere.”
His eyes fluttered open, tired but full of warmth. “Good. Because if I wake up and you’re gone, I think I’ll stop bre
