Ally's POV

　　I sit on the edge of my bed, my fingers tracing the delicate embroidery of the duvet cover, each stitch a reminder of the life I'm entangled in- a web woven with threads of fear and fragile hopes.

　　Elliot's presence is both a balm and a torment. He's here, in the same room, standing like a guard by the door, his broad shoulders casting a formidable shadow against the wall. His eyes, though, hold a softness that contradicts the rest of him- a gentleness ...