LIANA'S POV

The knock was gentler than I had expected, but it thumped in my chest. I opened the door gradually, having no notion of what I would find on the other side, and there he stood. Stanley. His hands jammed into his coat pockets, his eyes shadowed by something deeper than mere night.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Come in," I whispered back, stepping aside.

He came in, not as a friend caller, but as a man coming into a confession booth, prepared to abandon a sin. I shut the door ...