Chapter 113

Emily’s POV

The knock came just past midnight.

I almost didn’t open the door. After Ava left, after the tears and the confessions, I’d curled up on the couch with a blanket and let the candle burn itself out.

I thought sleep would come easy after so much emotional exhaustion, but instead, I’d been lying there, wide awake, replaying every word, every look, every silence between us.

So when the knock came, soft but insistent, my chest tightened immediately. No one else would come at this hour.

I didn’t need to check the peephole. I already knew.

It was Alex.

My hands hesitated on the lock, trembling as though my body knew better than my heart but I opened it anyway.

He stood in the hallway, hair was a mess, shirt wrinkled like he’d pulled it on in a hurry. His eyes, God, his eyes carried that stormy weight I’d seen too often lately, guilt and pride warring against each other.

“Emily,” he said, breathless, as if my name had b