Page 165 of Silent Shadows

“You said ‘joke.’”

“I said ‘safer.’”

“You said ‘not real.’”

“I said ‘maybe!’”

Her voice breaks on the word, reverberating through the trees.

“I’m trying not to ruin my career,” Daisy says, quieter now. “You don’t understand what this is like. It’s not just about investors or me—I have employees who need this paycheck. If I go under, so do they.”

Anger flares in my chest.

“No,” I say, colder than the wind blowing between us. “You’re right, I don’t.”

She flinches, crossing her arms. I look away toward the trees, and when I look back, her eyes are watery and red.

I release a breath, willing my shoulders to loosen, even just a little. “Do you know how hard it is for me to trust people with this?”

Her face softens, which somehow makes it all hurt more.

“No,” I correct myself, my voice rougher now. “Actually, not just with this.” I swallow. Damn cold medicine. Damn fever. Damn all of it. “I trusted you with me.”

Her mouth parts slightly.

I keep going. “I let you in.” This feels brutal. Honest in a way I already regret. “I trusted you,” I say, my voice cracks slightly.

Her eyes shine with tears. “Miles, that isn’t fair.”

“No?” My laugh comes out ugly again. “I thought someone finally saw me and wasn’t already planning the version they’d be comfortable showing everyone else.”

That one lands with her—I see it. Good.

Wait, no. Not good.

I’m just… I’m hurt. And as much as I want to feel understood in this moment, I’m not trying to punish her with—or for—my pain. And I hate that she can see it.

She shakes her head incredulously. “You think I’m… what? Exploiting you?”

“I think I overheard the woman I’ve fallen in⁠—”

I stop. Too late. Way too late. Everything freezes. The woods. The air. Her. Me.

I stare at the wet ground.

My pulse pounds in my ears.

Daisy’s voice goes very quiet, a single tear sliding down her cheek.

“The girl you what?”

I look away, my eyes welling. Cold medicine and fever and feelings and stupidity collide into one overwhelming disaster.

“Nothing,” I say hoarsely. “Forget it.”

I turn to head back to my bunk where I spend the rest of the night in a restless, drug-hazy sleep.

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