**Anna's POV:**

The safe room has no windows. The thermos Vivian passed through sits on the table beside me, still warm, and the ring is still on my hand, and the longing from last night hasn't gone anywhere — it just sits in my chest like something that has stopped asking permission.

David stands at the door. He's been standing at the door for the past hour with the disciplined stillness of someone who decided early in his career that walls don't talk ...