LOGINCARSONI stayed.Even after Anna’s eyes closed again, even after the tension in the room softened into something quieter, I didn’t move from the chair beside her bed. The hospital lights hummed faintly overhead, and the steady beeping of the monitor filled the spaces where neither of us spoke.I told myself I was staying because she was sick.That was the excuse.The truth was simpler and more dangerous—I didn’t want to leave things unfinished.Her lashes fluttered, and a moment later, her eyes opened.“You’re still here,” she said, her voice rough with sleep and fever.“Yes.”“You don’t have to be.”“I know.”She studied me for a few seconds, then sighed. “You’re stubborn.”I huffed quietly. “That’s one word for it.”She shifted, adjusting the pillow behind her head. The movement cost her more effort than she wanted to admit, and I hated that I noticed every small sign of strain.“Carson,” she said after a moment.“Yes?”“There’s something I need to ask you.”I straightened slightly.
CARSONFor the first time since I’d walked into the hospital room, I had nothing to say.Anna lay there staring at me, her face pale against the white sheets, eyes sharp despite the fever still dragging her down. The machines kept beeping around us, steady and uncaring, like they weren’t witnessing the moment something fragile finally shattered.“That’s what you texted Eleanor,” she said quietly. “Isn’t it?”My throat went dry.I opened my mouth, then closed it again.She noticed. Of course she did.“Say something,” she said. “Or don’t. But don’t stand there pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about.”“I—” I exhaled slowly. “What are you talking about?”Her lips curved into a hollow smile. “You’re really going to make me say it?”“I need you to,” I said. “Because I don’t understand how we got here.”Her gaze dropped to the blanket covering her legs. “I stayed late that night.”My chest tightened.“The night after the client meeting,” she continued. “I was finishing the report y
ANNAI woke up slowly.Not the jolt-out-of-your-skin kind of waking, but the gradual return to awareness that came with heaviness in my limbs and a dull ache behind my eyes. Everything felt thick, muffled, like I was moving through water.The first thing I noticed was the smell—clean, sharp, sterile.Hospital.The second thing I noticed was the beeping.Soft. Rhythmic. Annoyingly persistent.I frowned and tried to move, immediately regretting it when a wave of dizziness washed over me. My arm felt strange—tight, tethered. I turned my head slightly and saw the IV line taped to my skin.“Oh,” I murmured.“So you’re awake.”The voice came from my right.I turned my head again.Carson was sitting beside the bed.Not standing. Not hovering awkwardly by the door. Sitting—close enough that his knee brushed the side of the mattress, his suit jacket draped over the back of the chair, sleeves rolled up to his forearms like he’d been there a while.For a second, my brain refused to process it.“
CARSONThe drive to the hospital was a blur of red lights and clenched teeth.Anna was unconscious beside me, her head tilted toward the window, breath shallow enough that I checked it every few seconds just to make sure she was still breathing. One hand stayed on the steering wheel. The other hovered uselessly between us, as if touching her too much might somehow make things worse.“Come on,” I muttered, pressing harder on the accelerator when the light ahead turned yellow. “Come on.”My phone vibrated against the console.I ignored it.It vibrated again.Ignored.I didn’t need to look to know who it was—Eleanor, the board, probably Grace already panicking about optics and protocol and liability. None of it mattered. The only thing that mattered was the fact that Anna was burning up and unresponsive in my passenger seat because someone couldn’t control their temper.The hospital sign came into view like a goddamn lifeline.I pulled up to the emergency entrance, tires screeching just
CARSONEleanor was talking.I was only half listening.She sat perched on the edge of my desk, one leg crossed over the other, her heel dangling lazily as she spoke about some gallery opening she wanted me to attend with her that weekend. Her voice was smooth, practiced—pleasant background noise I’d learned to tune out when my mind was elsewhere.Which it was.My gaze drifted, unbidden, toward the glass wall of my office. The floor outside buzzed with the usual low hum of work—keyboards, phones, muted conversations. Normal. Predictable.Yet something in my chest felt tight, restless.“—and honestly,” Eleanor continued, rolling her eyes, “if I have to smile at one more pretentious art critic—Carson?”I looked back at her. “Hmm?”“You’re not listening,” she said, lips curving into a familiar pout.“I am,” I lied easily. “You were saying something about wine and suffering.”She laughed, swatting my arm lightly. “You’re impossible.”Before I could respond, a sharp sound cut through the ai
ANNAI woke up feeling like I’d been scraped hollow and put back together wrong.My body ached in that deep, heavy way that made even breathing feel like effort. My throat burned, dry and raw, every swallow sharp enough to make me wince. When I opened my eyes, the light slicing through the gap in my curtains felt brutal, like punishment. My head throbbed in slow, deliberate pulses, each one reminding me I hadn’t slept so much as drifted in and out of consciousness.For a long moment, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling.I felt… empty. Not numb exactly—more like everything had been wrung out of me the night before, leaving only exhaustion behind. My chest still felt tight, but the sharp sting of last night had dulled into something heavier and colder.I swung my legs over the side of the couch and immediately regretted it.The room tilted, my vision going spotty for a second. I grabbed the armrest and waited for the dizziness to pass, breathing slowly through my nose. My sweater f







