Chapter 35. Surrender

The message was deceptively simple.

From Max: Are you free this afternoon? No agenda. Just something I want to show you.

Alyssa stared at her phone, the glow illuminating her brow for a full minute before she dared to reply. Around her, the late-morning light slanted through the living-room curtains, dust particles drifting like faint memories in the air. Her heart thudded a little faster than usual—Max’s messages always carried an undertow of promise and uncertainty.

Her reply read: Fine. As long as it’s not a rooftop or a press conference.

Max answered almost immediately. It’s not. No speeches. No audience. Just you and something unfinished.

Unfinished.

The word hung in her mind like a fragile promise she wasn’t sure she was ready to keep. Yet as the clockroom ticked toward three, she found herself locking her apartment door and stepping into the crisp afternoon air with a mixture of anticipation and guarded skepticism.