Chapter 252: A Quiet Dawn

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*****************************(Claire’s POV)************************

The room was quiet, too quiet for a heart that had grown used to chaos. For days, my pulse had lived in survival mode—every breath sharp, every sound magnified, every shadow a possible threat. Now, the only rhythm was the soft hum of the hospital’s air conditioner and the gentle beeping of the monitors that kept time with Mack’s heart.

For the first time in what felt like forever, I could breathe.

I sat curled in the corner of the sofa bed they had dragged in for me, still in the same loose sweater someone had insisted I wear when exhaustion refused to let me argue. My hair fell limp around my face, strands unwashed and uncombed, but no one here cared about appearances. All that mattered was the man lying in the bed across from me.

Mack.

The last twenty-four hours had changed everything. He was awake. He was here. He had survived.

The moment his eyes had opened, something in me had cracked wide open. I didn