Barry’s POV

The room was too quiet. Too damn quiet.

I leaned back against the wall, my arms crossed, staring at the crack in the ceiling like it held answers I’d been chasing for months. It didn’t. It just reminded me of the way everything kept splitting around here—people, trust, loyalties. Nothing held.

Alina’s voice still rang in my ears from earlier. That sharp edge she always carried, even when she was trying to sound calm. She thought I didn’t notice, but I did. She was trying to hold it together for everyone else, for herself maybe, but I’d seen the flicker in her eyes. The part of her that...