Chapter 64 Fragile Hope

• The city seemed louder that week, as if even the air was bracing itself for the storm that was about to break. Zara felt it in the headlines splashed across her phone, in the conversations she overheard in cafés, even in the hollow silence of her own apartment. Everywhere, the world seemed to buzz with Jayden’s name. The trial was days away, and the press was sharpening its knives.
• She sat curled on the edge of her couch, her phone in her hand. The screen was lit, Leo’s name at the top of a blank message. Her thumbs hovered above the keyboard, the words sitting heavy in her chest, pressing to get out. We need to talk. Or maybe, About the kiss… Something, anything that could bridge the gap between them.
• But she didn’t type. She couldn’t.