Franklin didn’t move for about thirty minutes after Thalia stormed out of his office. The echo of the door slamming shut lingered in the air like a punch that hadn’t stopped landing.

Her scent, her vanilla scent, still clung to the room. His jaw flexed as he stared at the floor, his breaths shaky, fighting the urge to run after her despite knowing she would only look at him with the same coldness she carried when she finally accepted that he had broken her, again and again.

He ...