- Familiar Stranger
And then, unbidden, I thought of Liam’s eyes when he first heard me sing—the way they lit up, as though my voice had touched something deep inside him.
My throat tightened. “Fine. I’ll sing for you,” I whispered.
Liam exhaled with relief , softening his expression. But before he could smile fully, I added, my voice cold as ice, “Don’t mistake this for trust. I’m doing this for my uncle. Nothing more.”
For a moment, his smile faltered. Then he nodded slowly. “We’ll see.”
The words lingered between us—neither threat nor promise, but something in between. And in that instant, I felt the ground shift beneath my feet, as though I had just stepped onto a path I could never turn back from.