Elena’s POV

When the confrontation finally collapses under the weight of its own hostility, the people who had crowded the hospital room begin to disperse one after another.

Yet the silence they leave behind does not bring relief, because it feels denser than the chaos that preceded it, pressing against my chest until every breath becomes slow and deliberate, as though even the air has turned against me.

Damien stands near the window, his tall figure outlined faintly against the pale light ...