CHAPTER 15: Morning After the Vote

The morning light didn’t feel gentle. It felt intrusive.

It slipped through the glass walls of the penthouse without permission, stretching across the floor like it owned the place. Like nothing important had happened last night.

But everything had.

Selene stood by the window, one hand resting lightly against the glass. The city was already awake below them—moving, rushing, pretending nothing had changed.

Behind her, the penthouse was still half-asleep. A mug sat untouched on the counter.

A jacket lay over the back of a chair where no one had bothered to move it.

Avalon had not slept much.

She could tell without looking at him.

“You’re staring again,” his voice came, rougher than usual.

Selene didn’t turn. “It’s morning.”

“Yeah,” he said. “It is.”

A pause.

She finally looked over her shoulder.

He was standing near the kitchen island, shirt sleeves rolled up, hair slightly undone in a way that made him look less like a CEO and more like a man who had carried too much into the night and brought it into the morning with him.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

It felt like the silence between them was still catching up.

“The vote feels… far away now,” Selene said quietly.

Avalon gave a short exhale, almost a laugh but not quite. “It shouldn’t.”

“No,” she agreed. “It shouldn’t.”

She moved away from the window, slowly, like the air itself had weight in it.

“You think Marcus is really gone?” she asked.

That made Avalon look up properly.

“No,” he said immediately.

No hesitation.

Just certainty.

That answer settled between them like a second shadow.

Selene nodded once. “I didn’t think so either.”

Avalon poured coffee into a cup he hadn’t offered her yet, maybe had forgotten to offer. Or he didn’t know what normal looked like anymore.

He took a sip before speaking.

“Margaret says the board is stabilising,” he said. “But stabilising isn’t the same as safe.”

Selene leaned against the counter across from him.

“Nothing feels safe right now,” she admitted.

That landed honestly.

Neither of them tried to fix it.

Outside, the city kept moving. Cars. Horns. Life continuing.

Inside, time felt slightly delayed—like it hadn’t decided what version of reality it wanted to commit to yet.

Selene broke the silence first.

“I kept thinking about last night,” she said.

Avalon didn’t respond immediately, but he didn’t stop listening either.

“I kept thinking,” she continued, “that we survived something. What I don’t know is what the cost will be.”

His eyes stayed on her now.

“That’s the part that comes later,” he said.

“Always?” she asked.

“Always,” he responded 

Silence.

Then, softer he spoke:

“I didn’t sleep either,” he added.

Selene almost smiled at that. “I figured.”

Avalon set the cup down. “I kept replaying everything Marcus said. Everything he tried to turn you into.”

Her expression tightened slightly. “Don’t.”

“I’m not defending him,” he said quickly. “I’m trying to understand what he thought he could get away with.”

“That’s dangerous,” she said.

“So is ignoring it.”

That made her quiet again.

Because he wasn’t wrong.

A long pause settled between them.

Not uncomfortable.

Just full.

Finally, Selene spoke again, quieter this time.

“I feel like something is still coming,” she said.

Avalon looked at her for a moment before answering.

“It is,” he said.

Simple.

Certain.

Selene nodded slowly, as if she already knew that but needed to hear it anyway.

“What happens now?” she asked.

That question hung there longer than the others.

Avalon didn’t answer immediately.

When he did, his voice was lower.

“We keep going,” he said. “We deal with Marcus if he resurfaces. We deal with the board if they shift again. We deal with everything that comes with last night.”

“And us?” she asked before she could stop herself.

That made him pause.

Just slightly.

Enough that she noticed.

“We deal with that too,” he said finally.

Selene looked down for a moment, then nodded.

“Okay,” she said softly, not in agreement but in acceptance of the unknown.

Avalon picked up his coffee again, but didn’t drink it.

Instead, he looked at her properly.

There was something different in her expression this morning, something bright. Has it always been there or is it a new glow?

“I have therapy today,” he said suddenly.

Selene blinked. “Right?”

“First time I’m actually going to talk about… all of it.”

“The vote?” she asked.

“That,” he said. “And everything before it.”

Selene nodded slowly. “That’s good.”

A faint, tired half-smile crossed his face. “It doesn’t feel good.”

“It won’t,” she said honestly.

That made him let out a short breath through his nose.

A pause.

Then—

“I don’t want us to go backwards,” he said.

Selene looked at him carefully. “We’re not.”

“Good,” he said quietly. “Because I don’t think I can survive that again.” That honesty sat heavily between them.

Selene stepped slightly closer—not touching, just nearer.

“Then we don’t go backwards,” she said.

“Even if forward is messy?” he asked.

She gave a small, tired shrug.

“It already is.”

That almost made him smile.

Almost.

Then her phone buzzed on the counter.

She glanced at it.

Paused.

Her expression shifted—not dramatically, but enough for him to notice.

“What?” Avalon asked immediately.

Selene didn’t answer right away. She just read it again.

Then slowly set the phone down.

“It’s Maya,” she said.

Something in his posture changed instantly. “Is she okay?”

Selene exhaled.

A breath that sounded like relief trying to disguise itself.

“She’s improving,” she said. “Treatment is working faster than expected.”

For a second, neither of them moved.

Then something in Selene’s shoulders loosened—just slightly.

Avalon nodded once. “That’s good news.”

“It is,” she said quietly. “It really is.”

And for the first time since the vote—

The morning didn’t feel entirely heavy.

Just uncertain.

Like everything else in their lives