Clara’s POV

Night

The call ended with a soft click, but its echo lingered inside me as though the line still hummed with his voice. Damien had that effect making words feel heavier than their sound, leaving a residue of meaning in the air long after they were spoken. I lowered the phone from my ear, the screen’s glow fading until the room swallowed it whole.

I was alone now, wrapped in the kind of night that was neither entirely quiet nor entirely alive just the hush of a city that ...