Elena's POV

The night I realized Damien was truly unwell did not begin with worry or sympathy.

It did not even begin with unease. It began with shock—sharp, breath-stealing shock that left my thoughts lagging behind my body, as though my mind could not keep up with what my eyes were witnessing.

I followed him to the hospital out of necessity, or at least that was what I told myself.

There were unfinished matters between us, unresolved entanglements that refused to loosen their grip no ...