Prepared to be cold. Efficient. Maybe even cruel.
But now?
I didn’t expect him to look likethis.
Didn’t expect him to still carry me in those tired eyes.
I’m about to break the silence when he finally speaks. Voice cracking with disbelief.
“You’re alive.”
Ah. Fuck.
TEN
Advik
Body. Mind. Heart.
When all three of those things stare at you with contempt written on their face, you... tend to do stupid things.
Like smile at the woman you lost.
And I did.
Because she was alive.
That was enough to make my lips curve into an undeserving smile. I shouldn’t smile.
But it was enough for my chest to finally expand like it was meant to. Enough for the blood to start pumping again in a heart I thought was done for.
This is good.
She’s... alive.
I said it out loud like a fucking idiot, because it was all my brain could register. All that mattered. All that my ears needed to hear. To erase theotherdreaded words from my brain.
I take a step forward—tentative. Careful.
Afraid that if I moved too fast, she’d disappear like she always did in my head.
But she doesn’t.
Shestays.
Her brows crease when I get closer. Her mouth opens slightly, like she has something to say—maybe something sharp, knowingher. Probably meant to reprimand me for the disaster I was back in that meeting room.
I deserve it.
I hadn’t said a word. Couldn’t.
Not when I was supposed to. Not when Dev was counting on me.
He’ll be pissed. Whatever. I’ll deal.
All I could do wasfeelher. Watch her discreetly.
At the slope of her neck. The scar. Her hands. Any patch of skin that might tell me where she’s been.
