Wendy
When I opened my eyes, the space beside me was empty. Like recent days.
The sheets on Reed’s side of the bed were perfectly smoothed out, stripped of any lingering warmth or evidence that he had held me through the night. Even the indentation of his body was gone, erased with the same meticulous precision he applied to every other aspect of his life.
I lay there for a long moment, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Yesterday had fractured something fundamental between us.
The trip to the city. The pristine office preserved like a museum exhibit. The strawberry vanilla cake carefully selected to trigger memories I couldn’t access.
Every single moment had been controlled.
Curated.
Managed.
Reed hadn’t given me freedom yesterday. He had simply escorted me through a carefully monit
