Brandon's POV
I didn't sleep that night.
Not even close.
I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling, watching shadows from the streetlight crawl slowly across the white plaster above me. The house had long fallen silent, the kind of silence that comes only after midnight when even the walls seem to rest. But my mind refused to.
I turned to the left. Then to the right. Then onto my back again. The sheets twisted around my legs like ropes. Every time I closed my eyes, another thought surfaced—sharper and heavier than the last. And somehow, every one of them led back to her.
Zoe.
Or Chloe.
Or whatever name the world insisted on calling her.
But in my mind now, there was no doubt.
She was Zoe Hawkins.
Every day that passed made it clearer, and the moment from earlier that night only confirmed it. I exhaled slowly and rubbed my face with both hands.
That question she asked:
"Is Casey's dad really the head of the M&A department?"
