Page 211 of Sage Haven
I found him in the quiet moments—silent, unmoving, watching me like I was something fragile, something he couldn’t afford to lose.
Like he didn’t trust himself to look away for even a second.
And maybe he didn’t.
Maybe I didn’t trust myself either.
“I’m going to play some music,” he said suddenly. His voice was soft but unwavering, cutting through the haze like a knife. It was gentle. But it was also absolute. There was no argument. No space to protest. Only his voice and the promise inside it.
That he wasn’t leaving.
That I wasn’t alone.
My mind twisted against it, rebelling the way it always did.
Whispering the lies that had become too familiar.
It won’t help. Nothing will. You’re tainted. Haunted. Wasted.
I closed my eyes and breathed out the truth I couldn’t swallow anymore.
“They’re going to find me one day.” My voice cracked around the words.
Because it wasn’t fear anymore. It was fact.
Reich’s jaw tightened, a flash of something dark crossing his expression as his hands clenched at his sides.
He didn’t flinch. He didn’t soften. But his voice—it was sharper now. Unbreakable.
“I won’t let them.”
Simple. Final.
As if it was that easy. As if just saying it out loud would make it true.
“Just focus on feeling better,” he continued. “Let me worry about them.”
The words slammed into me.
They hit like a tide, crashing against the fog clouding my mind.
And for a moment— I wanted to believe him. I wanted to let him carry the weight.
But wanting something doesn’t make it yours. And belief is a fragile thing.
Too easy to lose.
Too dangerous to hold.
So, all I could do was collapse into him.
Let my body go limp against his, my eyelids too heavy to keep open as the darkness tried to swallow me whole.
I didn’t fight it.
Not this time.
So, I said, If something happens to me—”
