(Ava’s POV)
The knock came just as I was convincing myself to stop pacing.
Three soft raps against the door. Not loud. Not urgent. But they landed like strikes against my chest.
I froze, hand clenched tightly around the loose fabric of my shirt. I already knew who it was. His scent drifted in faintly, even through the wood and space between us — dark, earthy, threaded with smoke and something sharper I could never quite name. Dominic.
For a moment, I couldn’t move. My heart hammered so loud it drowned out everything else. All the voices that had been clawing at me all day — Caleb’s mocking sneer, Logan’s warning glare, Tessa’s bitter words — they all fell away.
Just him. Just that knock.
When I finally made myself step forward and pull the door open, he was standing there like he alw
