Hazel's POV.
I spent the two days before his arrival rehearsing what I would say, though I knew from experience that rehearsed words rarely survived contact with Julian's actual presence, the particular gravity he carried into any room he entered. I graded papers I barely remembered reading, took a longer route home from campus than necessary simply to have more time to think, and twice picked up the phone to cancel the meeting entirely before setting it back down, aware that whatever fear was driving that impulse was not the kind of fear I wanted to keep obeying anymore.
Julian flew to London two days later, not to command me home this time, but to sit across from me at a small café near the university with a folder of financial documents he slid across the table without a word, lettin
