Chapter 128

• Ethan’s POV
• It was hard to pinpoint exactly when everything shifted. I had been so careful, so controlled for so long, building walls around my emotions, telling myself I was better off without getting tangled in something as dangerous as love. But then, there was Emily.
• Her laughter was the first crack in the armor. It had that ability to ripple through me, to pull me from the inside out. The way she laughed, like she had a secret she was sharing with me alone, made me feel something raw, something I couldn’t ignore. And then, when she said my name—Ethan—like it was both a question and a promise, I felt the weight of it settle deep in my chest, as if the world had just whispered back at me, this is it.