Chapter 54. Cassian’s Collapse

The radiator clicked. Again. And again.

That was how Cassian knew he was still in Chicago. The heat in his apartment breathed like an animal, restless and uneven.

He sat on the floor in front of the couch, elbows on his knees, a half-empty glass of whiskey sweating against his palm. The blinds were open. The city outside looked half-asleep, the river glinting dull silver under the streetlights.

It’d been two weeks since Dominic’s arrest.

Two weeks since the fight.

Two weeks since Lia stopped answering his texts.

He told himself that was fine. That she deserved space. That he was used to quiet.

He was lying.

***

[Journal, entry #58]

The thing about silence is that it doesn’t erase the noise. It just traps it.

Everything I didn’t say in that ring is still vibrating under my skin.

I used to think control was discipline. Now it feels like paralysis.

***

He didn’t go to the gym