Sonia’s POV
The silence in the hall pressed down like a weight too heavy for me to carry. My duffel lay abandoned at my feet, the fabric slumped as though even it had given up. The doorway yawned open behind me, the cool breath of night urging me to step out, to flee, to finally release myself from the cage of grief and rejection.
But his voice had anchored me.
“Where do you think you’re going, Sonia?”
Alexander stood just beyond the glow of the chandelier, his frame carved from shadow and dim light. His jaw was tense, his arms folded across his chest, but his eyes betrayed him. They flickered, for a heartbeat, a tremor of something close to panic, quickly buried beneath the cold mask he always wore around me.
I couldn’t answer him. My lips trembled, my throat closed, and all I could
