I don’t answer him.
That’s the first thing I do right.
Because anything I say right now is either going to prove his point or push me deeper into something I don’t fully understand yet. And I’m not giving him that.
Not that easily.
I turn away first.
It feels like control, even if it’s a small, fragile version of it.
“I want to leave,” I say.
My voice is steady. I make sure of it.
Behind me, Ronan doesn’t move right away. I feel that more than I hear it. The pause. The consideration. Not hesitation. He doesn’t hesitate.
He measures.
“Then go,” he says.
Simple.
Too simple.
I turn back toward him slowly. “You brought me out here.”
“And you can walk out,” he replies.
My jaw tightens. “That’s not the same thing.”
“No,” he agrees. “It’s not.”
There’s something deliberate in tha
