Evan’s POV
For the first time in years, I caught myself smiling in the mirror.
I was standing in my loft, adjusting the collar of my dark wool coat, watching the faint afternoon light play across the exposed brick. The film review with Coach had dragged on for hours, but my mind hadn't been on the screen. It had been stuck right here, in this room, anchored to the lingering scent memory of Elena tangled in my sheets.
I picked up a spare lined jacket from the back of the chair, folding it over my arm. The autumn air was turning sharp, and I knew how easily she got cold.
Stepping out into the hallway and locking the heavy iron door behind me, a strange, unaccustomed lightness settled in my chest. The toxic rivalry, the public staging, the shadow games I had spent half my life playing aga
