He didn’t look like himself anymore. The man who’d always seemed untouchable stood there with his hands at his sides, shoulders heavy, eyes darker than the room. The air felt different too. Thicker. Like it was waiting.
I didn’t move. I just watched him, the space between us trembling with everything we hadn’t said.
“You want the truth,” he said quietly.
“Yes.”
He took a breath, long and uneven. “The file you saw wasn’t just about you. It was about everyone connected to me. People the Council marked as liabilities.”
“Liabilities?”
“Anyone who knows too much. Anyone they think I care about.”
My throat tightened. “So that’s what I am to them?”
He looked away. “You were never supposed to be on that list.”
“But I am.”
He didn’t deny it. Just pressed his lips together like he was hold
