Chapter 35
While Leo and Serenity were navigating a tentative truce over a light meal at Yukiya, the atmosphere in Evan’s world had turned cold and suffocating. He had finally left the hospital, the image of Serenity’s father—pale, fragile, and tethered to a dozen humming machines—burned into his memory.
He was silent for the entire drive back, the engine’s roar providing a hollow soundtrack to his spiraling thoughts. For the first time, the luxury of his car felt like a cage rather than a throne. He didn't know what to make of any of it; the reality of that hospital room had stripped away all of his beliefs that he was in the right.
The weight of the truth was unsettling. Their entire meeting, the façade of a relationship, and the subsequent public execution of Serenity’s character had
