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Chapter 109: The Unlikely Truce

last update Last Updated: 2025-08-15 16:57:07

The tearing sensation inside me, momentarily stunned into silence by the sheer impossibility of the sight, roared back to life with renewed, confused ferocity.

Michael stood ramrod straight, impeccably dressed as always in a charcoal suit, but the usual aura of controlled confidence was fractured. His jaw was clenched tight, a muscle ticking relentlessly near his temple. He held a single, long-stemmed white rose, an absurdly fragile counterpoint to the tension vibrating off him. His gaze, when it finally met mine through the narrow opening, wasn't icy fury, but a complex storm of regret, exhaustion, and something that looked painfully like shame. He looked diminished.

Ethan, beside him, was a study in contained intensity. Dressed in dark jeans and a simple grey t-shirt that stretched across his shoulders, he looked more grounded, but no less strained. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets, shoulders slightly hunched as if bracing against an internal gale. His eyes, those deep, tur
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