ing from the cold, blue glow of the city skyline through the floor-to-ceiling windows. I didn'

hen the room flooded with light, she ju

on her chest. "You scared me.

ice flat. I stood up and walked towa

ing back into place. "It was fine. I ran

ice dangerously quiet. "Doe

," she retorted, trying to m

ark. It is my business when she' s holding his hand and laughing at his jokes. Tell m

wed me." It wasn' t a ques

day. "I needed to see just how good of an agent you are. And you are very good. You' re a natur

jaw tight. "What I do is for my country.

ked exactly like it did in my first life! The secret meetings, the smiles you saved only for him

eyes landed on a wedding photo on the mantelpiece. It was a large, framed portrait of us fr

ace. The glass shattered with a loud crash, the sound ripping through the tense

arp intake of breat

e anyway, isn' t it? This house, that picture, this marriage. It' s j

tween us. But as I passed her, my foot caught on the edge of the rug. I stumbled,

t trace of jasmine, filled my senses. It was a horribly familiar sensation, a memory from a thousand lonely nights where I' d wished for this closeness. My anger evaporated,

flicker of vulnerability, a hint of unguarded pain that mirrored my own. Her breath hitched, and she did

en burned. The moment was broken. T

. "Just tell me one thing, Sophia. And I want the truth. Not the ag

. She didn't answer. She just held my gaze, her silence a more painful answer than any word she could