EMMA
I don’t know why I agreed.
That truth settled into my chest like a stone as I stood a few feet away from Damien, the distance between us feeling both too close and impossibly far. Gabriel had stepped away—reluctantly, visibly restraining himself—with a warning look that said this ends fast. I told myself I needed closure. Answers. Proof that I wasn’t crazy for ever loving him.
That was the lie I fed myself.
Damien stood with his hands in his coat pockets, shoulders slumped just enough to look broken. Vulnerable. The version of him I’d fallen for—the one who knew how to tilt his head, soften his eyes, lower his voice.
“I didn’t come to cause trouble,” he said quietly. “I swear.”
Snow drifted between us, settling on his dark coat. He looked almost cinematic against the white, like
