Even now.
Even after everything.
Especially after everything.
Her eyes searched mine slowly.
Like she saw it too.
Thunder cracked outside hard enough to shake the windows.
Neither of us moved.
Then quietly…
almost fearfully…
Felicity whispered:
“Hersh… what do we do now?”
11
FELICITY
What do we do now?
The question hung between us softly.
Dangerously.
Because standing in Hersh’s arms while rain hammered the windows behind us felt a little too much like temptation.
Like hope.
And hope had become terrifying to me.
Hersh looked down at me for a long second before answering.
“First?”
His thumb brushed gently beneath my eye, catching a tear I’d missed.
“We keep you alive.”
My chest tightened painfully.
Not because the words scared me.
Because of how certain he sounded.
Like protecting me wasn’t a burden.
Wasn’t an obligation.
Wasn’t temporary.
Just fact.
