LOGINAcross the City Adrian sat on the edge of his bed with his phone still in hand. The bedroom felt heavy and dim, just a little light from the lamp next to him. He'd already changed out of his suit, but his tie was still stretched out on the dresser. His jacket hung on the back of the chair. It was late. He should have been getting ready for sleep by now, but Rafael’s words kept circling in his head. I just wonder sometimes if Leon actually wants this wedding at all. Adrian pressed his palm to his face. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he mumbled. He tossed the phone onto the mattress, where it landed beside him. He leaned forward, put his elbows on his knees, and just stared down at the carpet. Leon had said yes. They’d been engaged for years. Leon never told him he didn't want the wedding he hadn’t said anything like that. But he never seemed all that excited either. Adrian kept picturing Leon in the living room earlier, standing there with tense shoulders and his fingers twisting toget
The door clicked shut behind Leon and he just stood there, staring at the polished wood. He listened to the footsteps fading away outside, his father’s voice drifting up from downstairs. Someone answered him, then everything went quiet.Leon crossed the room and sat on his bed. His jacket slid from his shoulders and he didn’t bother catching it; just let it fall where it would. The afternoon light stretched across his carpet, golden and soft, glinting off the engagement photo beside his bed. There he was, smiling with Adrian beneath an arch of white flowers, Adrian’s arm wrapped around his waist. Leon could still remember exactly how warm that hand had been.He reached toward the photo and stopped short, fingers just above the frame.A knock broke the stillness."Leon?"It was his mother."Come in."She opened the door and slipped inside, closing it quietly behind her. Her eyes flicked from his crumpled jacket to the photograph, then landed on him. She didn’t ask what had happened.
Leon’s father didn’t wait for anyone to sit. He launched right in.“Anyone care to explain why we’re all here on a Tuesday afternoon instead of, I don’t know, finishing the seating chart?” Alessandro’s voice was deadly flat the kind that told Leon he already suspected the answer, and hated the fact that he had to ask.Adrian stood up straight, neatened his jacket, and slipped into that measured calm he wore in every business meeting Leon’s family had ever dragged him to. “Sir, I wanted to speak to you directly. Leon and I have been talking about postponing the wedding.”Silence landed. Thick, awkward, crushing.“Postponing.” Alessandro practically spat the word. “We’ve postponed this wedding twice already, Adrian. Two years of delays, your mother and mine both tearing up their schedules every few months because the date keeps moving. Now you’re after a third?”“It’s not open-ended.” Adrian kept his tone steady, though Leon could see just how hard he was working at it. “Leon wants to f
Leon sprawled out on his bed, eyes locked on the ceiling, one hand splayed over his stomach a habit he couldn’t seem to break. His phone buzzed to life beside him, the screen lighting up with Damian’s name.He let it ring. Twice. He just needed a second maybe two to brace himself.When he finally answered, Damian didn’t bother with pleasantries. Just, “Did you make up your mind?”Leon kept his voice careful, almost a whisper. No one was around to overhear, but old instincts die hard. “I need more time. I can’t just make a call like this in a day.”Damian sounded wired, all nerves. He’d stopped hiding it. “We’re running out of time, Leon. My grandfather doesn’t have the luxury of me dragging this out. Every day—”Leon snapped, sharper than he intended. “I know. I know what’s at stake for you. I need you to think about what’s at stake for me, too.”There was a pause. Damian’s tone softened, just a hair. “I get it. I’m not pushing for a decision right now. I just need to know you’re rea
Morning rolled in gray and quiet. Leon got dressed, slow and distracted, his thoughts circling back to every word he’d been rehearsing all night none of them fit the way he wanted. It felt a lot like picking out wedding invitations: you stare and compare, but nothing feels right. He’d gone over a dozen different versions of this talk, but daylight didn’t make it any easier.He drove himself there. He didn’t want anyone else around for this for once, not even a silent bodyguard staring straight ahead.Adrian’s apartment door swung open before Leon could finish his first knock. Clearly, he’d been standing nearby, waiting in case this exact moment happened. His whole face lit up, so open and happy that it almost hurt.“Hey, you.” Adrian’s smile split wide, warm and genuine. “I didn’t know you were coming by.”Leon forced his voice to stay calm. “Yeah. Spur of the moment.”Adrian wrapped him in a hug before he could even blink. It was so familiar, so easy, Leon let himself lean into it
Leon sat by his bedroom window that evening with his knees drawn to his chest, watching the last light fade over the garden, and let himself, for the first time since walking out of that hospital, actually feel the shape of what he'd almost done. I could have ended it today. The thought didn't come with relief the way he'd expected it to. It came with something closer to horror, a cold understanding of how close he'd walked to a decision he wasn't sure, now, that he could have lived with. He pressed a hand flat against his stomach, still flat, still giving nothing away, and felt something there that had nothing to do with the pregnancy's physical symptoms and everything to do with the fact that some part of him, quiet and stubborn, had wanted to keep this child since the moment he'd seen those two lines on the test strip. I want it. The thought arrived plain and unguarded, and once it had, he couldn't take it back or pretend he hadn't thought it. I want the baby. God help me, I







