Chapter 16: Empty Gestures
(Alexander's POV)
I stared at the phone screen, a knot tightening in my chest. Her name. Next to it, a small, glaring red block icon.
Blocked.
For an entire year, her number had been blocked.
The realization hit like a punch to the gut, knocking all the air from my lungs. My hand gripped the phone tighter, pulling the screen closer as if proximity alone could rewrite a year’s worth of mistakes.
It was the meeting with Victoria. I remembered it now. She was in distress that day—clutching her chest, gasping like she was moments from collapsing. Eden had been messaging during that time. A lot.
She’d wanted to confirm a dinner we were scheduled to have. A small, trivial thing—to me, at least. But at that moment, under the mounting pressure of Victoria’s
