登入NINA'S POV Cassian never looks at me once during the flight.Not when the jet takes off, not when the stewardess asks if we want dinner…not even when I wake up with my cheek pressed against the window and realise I'd fallen asleep crying.He spoke only when he had to—to the pilot, to the flight attendant, to the driver waiting outside the airport.Never to me.By the time the tyres crunch over the gravel leading into the ranch, I've stopped feeling less like his passenger and more like luggage—like something fragile he’s transporting from one place to another... careful not to break it, careful not to touch it either.And amidst all this, my heart won't stop racing. I've held my breath, clenched my fists and torn my mind away from the steady rise and fall of Cassian's chest, but it just buffers right onto the one man whose last name now echoes in my ears like a haunting.Axel Cross.Cross. It makes no sense yet so much all at once. If only I can get the chance to—No, Nina. We're not
NINA'S POV Axel.His name echoes in my head like an unrelenting whisper, drowning out Cassian's voice.No.No, no, no.For what feels like an eternity, I forget how to breathe…as if the truth has somehow found a way to step on my lungs and not let go.Everything fades—Cassian, the countdown, the couch…none of it exists anymore.But those eyes.Those impossible blue-grey eyes smiling back at me from a photograph that should belong to a stranger. The same eyes that belong to Axel.But it can't be, no. I didn't…I met Axel on a random day at the movies. He helped me. He's been nothing but helpful and generous and…god. He even drove me to the restaurant to see my mom.Did he know? All this time, has he just been lying to my face? No. He doesn't know Alex. Axel. Alex. Axel. Alex. He doesn't know his father. He came to THIS CITY to look for him. Fucking hell…the truth has been staring me in the face all this time, and I just drowned it out with drinking and…kissing Axel. My fingers d
CASSIAN'S POV Time is a cruel thing.People say it flies when you're happy and crawls when you're hurting, but I don't think that's true.Time doesn't slow just because you're in pain.It slows because pain deserves an audience.It stretches every second until it snaps, lingers over every breath, drags each heartbeat across your ribcage like the universe is determined to savor every miserable moment before it lets you move on, and right now, I'm starting to think that's its favourite part.I sit on Lucas's couch with my elbows braced against my knees, my fingernails digging crescents into my palms hard enough to drown out the ache in my side.Almost.The bedroom door stays shut for now, but I know she'll walk through it eventually.She has to.Some things are inevitable.The sun will rise, blood will dry, people will leave, and sooner or later, Nina will walk out of that bedroom and find me sitting here… waiting for the words to calm the tempest in my head. Time seems to know it to
NINA'S POV I have every reason to hate the man lying in front of me.He's broken my heart. Humiliated me. Made me cry until I couldn't fucking breathe.So why am I sitting here counting his breaths...terrified one of them will be his last?Cassian's eyelids flutter open again—not enough to wake up fully, just enough to remind me he’s still here.He's done that three times since Lucas left, and I hate how relieved that makes me each time those grey eyes settle on my face for one second, two, three…My fingers tighten around each other until my knuckles burn, and I keep my eyes on the rise and fall of his chest. That's it…just…breathe.My fingers rake through my hair and form a fist. I can't tell what's making my heart pound harder—the fact that Lucas had shot him, or the fact that if he doesn't make it back from that pharmacy soon, Cassian might bleed to death right in front of me. Okay, Nina, you're overreacting. But he has already bled through the second bandage, and now my hand
CASSIAN'S POV I could stand up. I just can't bring myself to.Nina sits across from me with her hands folded neatly in her lap, her head bowed as though the floor deserves her attention more than I do.She won't look at me.She hasn't looked at me since Axel walked out the front door.But I don't need her eyes to know she's been crying.I see it in the redness lingering on her cheeks, in the way her shoulders curl inward with the careful rise and fall of every breath… like she's trying not to let another one break.And then there's Lucas.Standing in the kitchen doorway with his arms folded across his chest like a prison guard making sure I don't do the one thing my entire body is begging me to do.Cross the room. Apologize. Touch her.I hate him for it.The worst part?He's probably right. I don't know how long we've been sitting like this, but by the time I finally find the voice to speak, the storm outside has stilled, found its way into my chest…and stayed there. “You never got
CASSIAN'S POV The first thing that breaks the silence isn't my voice.It's her body crashing into mine as her arms squeeze around my neck. My heart screams at me to step back, to ask questions, to remember we're not alone.My body doesn't listen.Instead, my arms lock around her waist on instinct, pulling her flush against me as the rain pounds against our backs.Survival.That's all this is.Because after forty-nine hours of believing I'd lost her, my body refuses to believe she's real unless it's holding her.Her heart batters hard against my chest, syncing instantly with mine as my fingers dig into her sides and I lift her off her feet.Her nails dig into the back of my neck, and her breath chatters on her teeth.“You're here… you're really here…”Nina, Nina…fucking hell.I know that I shouldn't. That she's here and that should be enough, but I find myself burying my nose in her hair, searching for traces of her scent. I inhale deeply, tasting the rain on my tongue and that damn







