Ryan stood on the terrace, the cool morning air brushing against his face, making the hairs along his jaw prickle as if the environment itself sensed the tension surging through him. The city below hummed quietly, cars gliding down the main road, a distant dog barking, the distant thrum of early morning workers starting their routines. Everything and everyone else moved on as though the world hadn’t just shifted under his feet.
As though his mother hadn’t just chosen violence.
Leah’s silence on the other end of the call wasn’t peaceful.
It wasn’t reflective.
It was the kind of silence that came when someone had been struck in the ego so hard they needed a moment to reassemble their armour.
Ryan didn’t speak.
He let her sit with it.
Let her feel the weight of what he had said.
Let h
