Lexi felt like the world had narrowed to one single, suffocating second.
Julian stood behind her, unmoving, unreadable. Sebastian at her side, calm and waiting, as though he already knew how this would end. And her? She was the center of a storm she hadn’t meant to cause but now couldn’t escape.
She took a breath, or tried to—it caught in her throat.
Julian’s gaze didn’t waver. It held her in place. Not demanding. Not pleading. Just… present. Unflinching. For once, he wasn’t trying to control her. He was just there, silently offering her the choice she’d always wanted him to give her.
And Sebastian?
He didn’t flinch either. He was still, a quiet figure of certainty at her side. She could feel his confidence radiating off him, that calm assurance that if she left with him, her world wo
