I made a choice that would ruin everything.
The words didn’t come out of my mouth. Not yet. But the decision crystallized in my bones, in the place where instinct and terror and something far more confusing twisted together until I couldn’t tell them apart.
My hand moved before my voice did.
I reached behind me and grabbed my camera bag.
Mia made a sound like she’d been stabbed. A strangled, breaking thing.
“Ali. No. No, no, no, don’t—”
Her voice shook so violently it made my own fingers tremble, but I kept holding the bag. It felt heavy. Too heavy. Like a verdict.
Ray watched the movement with a stillness that felt dangerous in its relief. He didn’t smile, but something eased in his shoulders, in the tightness around his jaw. As if my choice had been inevitable to him. As if he had
