After that... I’d decide.
Soft footsteps on the stairs pulled me from the spiral.
I turned.
Clare stood in the doorway, wrapped in clothes too big for her frame. Her hair was damp from the shower, copper catching the pale morning light. Clean for the first time since Dresner’s facility.
Bruises marked her skin in shades of purple and yellow, gifts from the guard’s calculated slaps. Her split lip was healing, proof of what she’d endured.
My breath caught.
She was the most beautiful woman on earth.
Even bruised. Even exhausted. Even standing there hesitant like she wasn’t sure she belonged.
“They left?”
“Yeah. Just now.”
Quiet settled between us. Not uncomfortable. Just... weighted. We’d survived Dresner’s trap, escaped Geneva, deactivated the implant. No more secrets. No more dying.
Just us.
Neither of us quite knew how to be now that the world had changed.
Clare moved into the kitchen slowly, bare feet silent on cold tiles. She pulled out the chair across from me. Hesitated. Like she needed permission to sit at her own table.
I stood immediately. “Sit. I’ll pour you coffee.”
She sank into the chair, relief crossing her features.
“Thanks.”
I moved around the kitchen and felt her gaze tracking my movements. Domestic routine that felt surreal after Geneva.
I handed her a mug and sat beside her.
“How do you feel?”
“Like I got hit by a truck.” Her fingers touched her swollen cheek gingerly. “But alive. So that’s something.”
“Hellhound left medical supplies.” I gestured toward the bags scattered on the counter. “Anti-inflammatories. Ice packs. Everything you need.”
“Later.” She waved it off. “I’m fine.”
She wasn’t fine. But I recognized the deflection for what it was, she’d tend to everyone else’s injuries before acknowledging her own.
I forced my palms to stay relaxed. Fought the urge to reach for her.
But she was smiling. Small. Real. Observing me over the rim of her mug with something soft in her expression.
“You’re staring.”
“Yeah. I am.”
Heat crept up her neck despite everything. That flush I’d come to recognize, the one that meant I’d caught her off guard.
She took another sip. Changed the subject. “So, what happens now?”
