Chapter 60: Slightly Past Their Best

POV: Avalon Pierce

Light changed how the hotel room appeared.

Beige walls, maybe meant to feel calm at some point, now just dull under the weak light. Up near the window, the ceiling holds a mark - water found its way through and left a shadow with no name. The room feels tighter than it is, like the air forgot how to move. That spot above the glass stares down shapelessly.

Darkness still hung low when Selene gave in, slipping into sleep just past five. Not once did Avalon shift position afterwards. He stares upward, watching the faintest grey begin to bleed across the plaster. 

Selene opened her eyes when the clock hit eight.

For a moment, she stayed frozen - just like every morning - before shifting to see he was staring up. The ceiling held his eyes before hers could even reach him.

“You didn’t sleep,” she said.

“A little.”

“Avalon.”

“For an hour maybe.”

She sat up, glancing round like she was counting what truly mattered. 

“This place is very beige,” she said.

“I noticed.”

“The ceiling also has a stain.”

“I’ve been looking at it for three hours.”

“What does it look like?”

“It looks like nothing and it has been bothering me.”

He sat up. “Whitmore was arrested at six by federal agents are at his home. The prosecutor moved faster than planned.”

Selene stayed silent for a moment before saying, “How do you feel?” 

He thought about it honestly.

“Like it happened too far away to feel real yet.”

Her head dipped once—space held between them instead of pressure. The moment settled into her palms like something given.

“My father would have been fifty-eight,” he said.

“I know.”

“He never got to see what the company became.”

“He knew what it was becoming,” Selene said. “That’s why he was building the case, he was protecting it before you even knew it needed protecting.”

Avalon stayed quiet, holding the moment like a stone.

A pigeon perched across the way focused hard on its own affairs, ignoring everything else. Through distant hallways inside, a cart rolled slowly forward, one wheel wobbling, hinting at routines already underway.

They left when the clock hit nine.

Walking again where things seemed changed by daylight. 

“Maya’s going to be furious we didn’t tell her,” Selene said in the car.

“Maya’s always furious about something but she also recovers quickly.”

“I took a bullet for her. Same thing in her mind.”

“You took a bullet for her,” Avalon said. “She should have been protected. That’s different.”

Selene was quiet.

Then: “You sound like Nene.”

Her eyes met his gaze. The moment hung still.

“Precise distinctions and knowing exactly which word was right.” She paused. “It’s not a criticism.”

“I understand,” he replied.

Apart from dust, nothing had shifted up there since they went away.

Out by the curb, the car had vanished—nothing left now but pavement - where a hulking shape sat last night, watching.

Flowers from the farmer's market filled the vase inside. It wasn't fresh anymore but it was still holding on. Their colours faded just a bit, even though they still stood.

A figure paused right where the couch meets the lamp, Avalon stayed between the window and door. His fingers pressed against his skin while Selene stayed close. 

Finished now? she spoke aloud.

 “Whitmore has been arrested, Hale’s prosecution is proceeding, Diana is cooperating and Catherine testified.” He looked at the room. “Everyone who built this around us is either dead or in custody or gone.”

“Okay,” she replied.

“This part yes.”

Back turned first, then her feet shifted until she stood eye to eye. Facing him now without a word passed between them.

“There will always be another part,” she said. “That’s just life but right now, today, in this room.” She looked at him. “We’re okay.”

Out of nowhere, she reappeared - after all those tangled turns of fate - and somehow became the only truth he knew. Her return, shaped by chaos, landed like a quiet certainty in the mess of everything else.

“We’re fine,” he told her. Then a pause. Selene moved into his space, her arms moved around him, her lips found his as they kissed and stayed in the silence and warmth of each other.

A droop had settled into the petals, just a little, inside the glass. Morning unfolded beyond the window, traffic humming, people walking, none of it pausing.

His phone rang.

Thomas Reeves.

He answered.

Forty seconds of nonstop talking came out of Thomas's mouth and after that, the phone dropped inch by inch in Avalon's hand.

“What?” Selene said.

“Whitmore’s lawyer filed an emergency motion an hour ago. Claiming the arrest is unlawful. That evidence was obtained through illegal surveillance.” He looked at her. “He’s naming Pierce Holdings as a co-conspirator.”

Her eyes locked onto his face. 

“From a federal holding cell,” she said quietly.

“From a federal holding cell.”

A single stem tilted slightly left inside the glass container. Water caught the light near its base. Petals stayed open but quiet. The room held still around it.

The morning continued outside.

A fresh start began right where things were meant to end.