|Serena's POV|
The door clicks shut behind him like a verdict, soft but absolute, and the sound echoes through the silence he leaves behind, louder than it should be, heavier than the morning light bleeding through the curtains, and I stand there, still wrapped in the hotel robe, still warm from the bed where we fell apart just to come back together, but already I can feel the cold crawling in through the seams of the morning, not just in the air but in my skin, in that quiet part of me that always knew he'd have to leave eventually.
I don't move for a long moment, because if I do, if I take one step forward, I know I'll have to admit it—that whatever peace we carved out last night is already cracking under the weight of something bigger than either of us, something old and dangerous and
