ALEX’S POV
I don’t know how long we stand there.
Minutes, maybe longer.
Time feels irrelevant.
Evie cries into my shirt, shoulders shaking beneath my hands. Months—years, perhaps—of pain spilling out all at once.
I simply hold her.
There are moments in life when words are useless.
This is one of them.
Gradually, her breathing steadies and the trembling subsides.
Eventually, she pulls back slightly, clearly realising she’s currently clinging to her employer in an alley behind an Italian restaurant.
Predictably, she immediately apologises.
“I’m sorry.”
I sigh.
“Of course you are.”
A watery laugh escapes her.
Progress.
She moves to step away entirely.
I let her.
Reluctantly.
She’s still visibly shaken, green eyes red-rimmed and exhausted. A part of me is deeply uncomfortab
