The apartment no longer felt like a sanctuary.
It felt like a monitored interval—every light too steady, every silence too perfect, as if the walls themselves were listening for unauthorized input.
I stood barefoot in the kitchen, untouched glass of water in my hand, watching my reflection overlap the glittering city skyline. Blurred. Doubled. Unstable at the edges.
Behind me, the door opened.
Shawn didn’t announce himself.
He never did anymore.
He stepped inside, paused to scan the room like a predator mapping territory, then his gaze locked on me—dark, burning, and unmistakably possessive. It dragged slowly down my body, taking in the way his shirt clung to my breasts, the bare length of my thighs, the rapid rise and fall of my chest. Hunger flared raw in his eyes, the kind that pr
