The room was still, too still, as the weight of Darius’s words settled over us. I could feel the pressure of their eyes on me, all of them waiting for me to make the impossible choice. But how could I? How could I choose something that felt so much bigger than me?
I glanced at Asher, his hand still holding mine, his grip tight but gentle, as if he were grounding me in the face of something overwhelming. His face was a mixture of hope and fear, the quiet pleading in his eyes not lost on me.
“I can’t do this,” I whispered, my voice shaking, barely audible.
Asher’s thumb brushed over the back of my hand, his touch a silent comfort, but I could feel the way his body stiffened beside me, the unspoken tension between us thickening with every passing second.
“You don’t have to do this alone,”
