Alexander’s POV
The door clicked shut behind me, sealing off the foyer and the echo of raised voices. Silence draped itself over the corridor, but inside my head there was nothing quiet. Every word, every look from Sonia downstairs still hung in the air like smoke I couldn’t breathe through.
I should have felt relief, after all, I had spoken. I had stood my ground, made a declaration, drawn a line. But there was no relief. There was only the sharp edge of her doubt, the tremor in her voice when she looked at me as if I had betrayed her already.
Hayley’s retreat still rang like a false victory in my mind. I knew her too well. She didn’t walk away because she accepted defeat; she walked away because she was planning her next strike. That knowledge weighed heavier than the silence pressing
