Despite everything, a broken breath left me.
Almost a laugh.
Almost a sob.
Georgia heard it.
Her shoulders trembled.
Then she opened the door.
Before she stepped out, she looked back.
“I hope she makes you brave,” she whispered. “Because I couldn’t.”
Then she was gone.
The door shut.
The room went quiet around the empty chair.
Her ring sat on the table, catching light.
A small, bright thing.
A life I had tried to build with good intentions and a heart turned the wrong direction.
I stared at it until my eyes burned.
I did not know how much time passed.
Minutes.
An hour.
Pain shifted under my skin. The medication blurred the edges of the room but not enough. Nothing blurred enough.
Eventually, the door opened again.
Callum stepped inside.
He looked from my face to the ring on the table.
Then back to me.
For once, he did not say anything right away.
He crossed the room, picked up the ring, and held it between two fingers like it weighed more than metal and stone.
“She gone?” he asked.
I nodded.
Callum placed the ring back down.
Carefully.
“She take it off or did you ask for it?”
