Adrian was gone when I woke up.
The space beside me was cold, the sheets on his side smooth and undisturbed except for the faint indentation that proved he had been there at all. For a few suspended seconds I lay still, staring at the ceiling, my body carrying an awareness that was too specific and too vivid to belong to a dream.
I turned my head slowly.
The door to the bedroom was open. The bathroom light was off. No sound from the study. No quiet presence moving through the penthouse with that careful, controlled weight of his.
Nothing.
For one suspended moment I lay there and waited for the night to rearrange itself into something that made sense. It did not. The memory sat exactly where it had been when I closed my eyes, his hands, his mouth, the way he had stilled above me and th
