So I stayed home. Locked every door. Double-checked every window. Made a second pot of coffee I didn’t drink.

I’ve been camped at the kitchen table for hours—laptop open, fingers hovering, pretending to work. But I’m not seeing the screen.

I keep glancing at the front door, flinching at every sound—every creak, every voice in the hallway, every buzz of a neighbor’s phone vibrating through these paper-thin walls.

To say I’m on edge doesn’t even come close.

Violet offered to bring lunch and keep me company—and I didn’t say no.

A knock sounds––sharp and urgent—and I almost jump out of my skin.

“Be right there, Vi,” I say, already pushing away from the table, assuming she’s juggling too many takeout bags to use her key. But when I open the door, it’s not Violet.

My stomach drops so fast I become dizzy.

He looks more put-together today—dark jeans, a fitted tee, clean-shaven. But the intensity in his eyes is the same. Off.

“What are you doing here?” I try to keep my voice calm, but my fingers tighten around the edge of the door.

He steps forward, pushes past me like he has every right to. “We need to finish our conversation.”

I whirl around, my heart hammering. “No, we don’t. You need to leave.”

He doesn’t budge.

“This is your fault. You shut me out. You dropped everything we had as though it meant nothing. You want to play the victim now, but you lied too. You made me believe you wanted this.”

Something snaps inside me. The fear coiled in my chest unravels—not into panic, but into fury. Red-hot and righteous. Because how fucking dare he.

“You want to talk about lies?” I laugh, but there’s no humor in it. Just venom. “You are the reason Alex and I broke up. Then you pursued me just to get back at Alex. How fucked up is that? And now you want to rewrite the story like I asked for it? Don’t you fucking dare twist this around on me after everything you did.”

He scoffs, eyes flashing. “Yeah, I pursued you because it would destroy Sebring. But then you let me in. You made me believe we could become something. You said yes to dinner, yes to that gallery opening. You gave me permission to touch you. I finger fucked you until you came all over my hand. You led me to believe there was something real growing between us. And I fucking fell in love with you. Hard. And then you flipped the script and made me the villain.”