The silence wasn’t safe.

It sat in the room like another body, thick and heavy, thicker than the steam that still clung to the glass, heavier than the heat rolling off skin. It didn’t feel empty at all. It felt crowded, filled with all the things left unsaid, with all the breaths that no one wanted to take too loud, with all the threats hanging in the space between them.

Noa’s skin prickled, every hair standing on edge. He felt Alessio’s arm around him solid, anchoring, warm enough to ...