Elena’s POV

I sat on the edge of the narrow childhood bed long after the door had settled against its frame, the narrow gap of light still visible, the house continuing its distant, ordinary sounds beneath me. My hand rested open on the blanket where his fingers had been. The ghost of that touch lingered,warm, careful, almost reverent,and I could not make myself close my fist around the empty air.

Mr. Nik’s words kept replaying, soft and unfinished, the way they had hung between us before Liana walked in.

*There’s something about your childhood that you don’t know. Something I’ve wanted to tell you for a very long time.*

I...