The silence between them was thick—weighted and electric—but Evelyn refused to be the first to look away.
Not this version of her.
She stood tall, her back straight, chin lifted slightly as she met Ronan’s steady stare without flinching.
He was the one who finally spoke, his voice low and rough, cutting through the tension like a blade.
“You’ve changed.”
She arched a brow, unbothered by his words.
“I had to,” she replied, calm and steady, her tone carrying none of the heat from the night outside the hallway walls. “The world wasn’t going to wait for me to catch up.”
His gaze flicked over her slowly—not in the way men looked at her at the bar—but with something heavier. Something that made her skin prickle under his attention.
“You’ve been busy,” he added, his voice quieter now, but
