The door closed behind her with a soft click that didn’t match the violence of what had just happened.Damien didn’t move.For a few seconds, he stood exactly where she had left him, shoulders squared, chin slightly raised, as if the argument were still in front of him waiting to be finished. The silence that followed stretched thin, unfamiliar. Even the house seemed to hesitate.The television still played.Her face flickered across the screen—Sorcha, caught mid-laugh, mid-embrace, her hands curled into Karios’ shirt like she belonged there.Damien reached for the remote and turned it off.The quiet settled heavier.Behind him, Elena shifted her weight. “Damien…”He exhaled through his nose, slow, controlled. “I told her not to.”It wasn’t directed at Elena. It didn’t need to be.“I told her what would happen.”He moved then, finally, but not toward her. He walked past her shoulder, close enough that she caught the faint scent of his cologne, now edged with something sharper—tension,
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