Tuesday started deceptively calm.
Daphne had called out sick. The clouds hung low but never rained. The morning rush was light. It felt... manageable.
Until Julian walked through the door.
He didn't knock. He never had.
The bell above the bookstore's entrance gave its usual cheery ding, and she turned from the register to greet whoever it was.
And there he stood.
Julian Alden.
Hair darker than she remembered. Suit a little too perfect. That same infuriatingly calm expression on his face. Like he hadn't shattered her.
"Hey, Sera."
It took everything in her not to drop the mug in her hand.
She said nothing. Just stared.
Julian stepped closer, hands in his pockets, like they were casual exes and not fire and gasoline.
"I was in the neighborhood," he said.
"Leave," she said, voice low.
"Just five minutes. Please."
"No."
He sighed, glanced around the shop, then lowered his voice. "You can't still be angry. It's been—"
"Fourteen months," she snapped. "And I'm not angry. I'm healed enough to know I'd rather bleed out than talk to you."
That should've been the end.
But of course, it wasn't.
Because Rowan walked in right behind him.
Carrying two coffees. One of them for her.
He stopped in the doorway, registering the scene with military precision—Julian's closeness, Seraphina's body language, the tightness in her jaw.
"Something wrong?" Rowan asked.
Julian turned, taking in the other man with calculated curiosity.
"And you are?"
Rowan handed Seraphina her coffee. Didn't take his eyes off Julian.
"Friend," he said flatly. "You?"
Julian smiled. "I'm the one she used to love."
Rowan's fists clenched at his sides.
Seraphina stepped between them, heart pounding so loud she could barely think.
"Julian, you need to go."
"You look good," Julian said, eyes softening in that I-still-think-I-own-you way.
"I looked good when you lied to me, too," she replied.
He winced, but not enough.
"Fine," he said, lifting his hands. "I'll go. But I'm not leaving town. And I'm not done."
He looked at Rowan, cool and calculating.
"Take care of her. If you can."
And then he left.
---
The silence afterward was suffocating.
Rowan didn't speak. Just stood there, jaw clenched, breathing hard.
Seraphina walked behind the counter, trying to steady her hands. Her coffee sat untouched.
Finally, Rowan said, "You okay?"
She nodded. "No."
He exhaled. "That's fair."
"I wasn't ready," she said. "I thought I was. But seeing him... hearing his voice…"
She trailed off, eyes distant.
Rowan walked closer. Not touching, but near enough that she could feel his heat.
"Did he hurt you?" he asked.
She looked up, eyes glassy. "Yes. Not with fists. With promises."
---
Later that day, she found Rowan in the back, reorganizing the shelves with more force than necessary.
"Hey," she said softly.
He turned. His eyes were sharper now, less amused, more… protective.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," she said.
"I'm not."
She blinked. "You're not?"
"No. Now I get it. I see why you don't trust people. Why you flinch when someone gets too close."
He stepped forward.
"But I'm not him."
"I know."
"Do you?" he asked, voice gentler now. "Because sometimes, Sera, I think you've been surviving so long, you've forgotten how to live."
She swallowed hard. "That's not fair."
"Neither is what he did to you."
She hated that he was right.
Rowan looked at her for a long moment, then said, "Let me take you somewhere tonight. Just… something quiet. No pressure. No ghosts. Just us."
She hesitated.
Then nodded. "Okay."
---
That night, he took her to a cliffside overlook outside of town, where the stars looked close enough to touch.
He brought a blanket, two sandwiches, and a flask of whiskey.
They didn't talk much. Just sat shoulder to shoulder, staring out at the endless black ocean.
Eventually, she broke the silence.
"I was supposed to marry him."
Rowan didn't flinch. Just nodded.
"He told me everything I wanted to hear. Planned our wedding, picked the venue, helped me write the guest list…"
Her voice cracked.
"… and while he was doing that, he was sleeping with someone else."
Rowan didn't ask who. But she told him anyway.
"My best friend. Madeline."
That made him shift. "Jesus."
"Yeah."
Rowan passed her the flask. She took a long swig.
"Did you confront her?" he asked.
"No. I disappeared."
"Why?"
She looked at him. "Because if I didn't, I was going to burn the whole world down."
---
They sat in silence again.
Then Rowan said something that nearly shattered her.
"You didn't deserve that. And you don't have to earn love by surviving pain."
She bit her lip, hard.
And for the first time in a long time, Seraphina Vale let someone hold her while she cried.
Not because she was weak.
But because she finally felt safe.