Maria:
“You didn’t deny it.”
I didn’t mean to repeat myself, but the words came out anyway. They’d been sitting there since last night, unfinished.
Daniel didn’t turn immediately.
“I don’t understand why I should.”
I shifted in my seat, angling toward him.
“You don’t understand why you should deny something that isn’t real?”
He glanced at me then, briefly, like I’d asked something obvious.
“Isn’t that the point?”
“The point,” I said, slower now, trying to keep my voice even, “was control. Not… that.”
“That was control.”
I let out a small breath, something between a laugh and not.
“Right. Because letting the entire city think we’re in love is very controlled.”
He didn’t respond.
Just kept driving.
And that silence… it didn’t feel empty. It felt like he’d said enough and I was
