Ch. 4: Midnight Terms

The morning came in grey and quiet, the way it always did before everything changed.

Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. "You shouldn't have come," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to.

The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered. "You shouldn't have come," he said, and the words landed softer than they were meant to. There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do.

Money could buy a great many things, he had learned, but never the one thing that was wanted most. "I'm not asking you to forgive me," Sophia said. "I'm asking you to listen."

The conversation turned, the way conversations do, from the easy things to the ones that mattered. Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to.

Outside, the world went on as if nothing had shifted. Inside, everything had.

There was a history between them that neither would name, written in the things they did not do. Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to. Sophia crossed the room slowly, aware of every step, of the way he was watching without seeming to.