Not hard. Not enough to bruise. Just enough to stop me. Enough to make my phone fall to the floor.
“Let go of me.” My voice is ice. “And get the fuck out of my home.”
“You don’t want that.”
“There is nothing I want more. Now. Let. Go.”
“Why do you always make everything harder than it needs to be?” Owen leans closer.
Something shifts inside me. Not anger exactly. Something quieter. The kind of clarity that comes when you’ve been pushed past the point of fear and land somewhere on the other side of it.
I stop pulling away. Instead, I step into him, forcing him to lean back.
“Let go of my wrist,” I say. My voice doesn’t shake. “Walk out that door. And don’t come back. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not ever.”
“Sadie—“
“I’m not asking.” I hold his gaze. “I spent two years letting you convince me I was too incapable, too stupid, too damn emotional to make my own decisions. I’m done. You don’t get to touch me. You don’t get to show up at my home. You don’t get to pretend you’re helping when all you’ve ever done is make me feel like I don’t deserve love.”
His grip loosens.
“You’re making a mistake,” he says, but the smirk is gone. For the first time since I’ve known him, Owen looks unsure.
“The only mistake I made was opening the door.” I walk past him, pull it wide open, and stand beside it. “Get out.”
He stares at me for a long moment. Then he straightens his jacket, walks through the doorway, and disappears down the stairs without another word.
I close the door. Lock it. Press my back against it.
My hands are shaking. My whole body is shaking. But he’s gone, and I’m still standing.
Until I’m not.
I slide down the door so I’m sitting on the floor, knees pulled to my chest. The adrenaline hits all at once, and I can’t tell if I’m about to laugh or cry, so I do both—a weird hiccupping sound that echoes through my empty apartment.
“Sadie?” Jess’s voice, tinny and far away. My phone. I forgot about my phone.
I crawl to where it landed near the couch and pick it up. “I’m here.”
“What happened? Is he gone? I texted Mateo—“
“He’s gone. I got him out.”
Silence takes over until she fully processes my words. “Wait, you did?”
“Yeah.” I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. “I did.”
“Holy shit, Sadie.” Her voice is thick. “I’m proud of you.”
A knock at my door makes me flinch for a sporadic moment, but this knock is different—steady, not demanding. And I know exactly who it is before he speaks.
“Sadie? It’s Mateo. Jess texted me. Are you okay?”
I stand, unlock the door, and open it.
His eyes sweep over me, checking for damage, for tears, for whatever he expected to find.
“I handled it,” I say.
