POV: Alex
"The cardiac event was a lie," Alex said. "She died by suicide,I found her."
The loft was quiet. The city was dark outside the windows. The canvases on the walls seemed to lean in, as if they were listening. Alex sat in his paint-covered chair while Julian sat on the couch across from him. The clock on the wall ticked past 2 AM.
"I was twelve," Alex said.
Julian's grey eyes didn't move. His face revealed nothing and his hands were still on his knees.
"I came home from school early. I had a headache, so they sent me home. The house was quiet, the staff was in the kitchen and no one was upstairs."
Alex stopped. His throat was tight. He hadn't told this story in twenty-two years. He hadn't needed to because Julian had always known but they had never said it out loud.
"I went
