You hadn’t slept since the night you found out, not just about him, but about all of them. Your friend group of 4 ppl… the people you trusted… they’d all known who he really was. What he was tied to. What kind of blood sat behind that calm smile. And they kept it from you. He was a mafioso.

Ever since the truth reached you, something inside you cracked. You couldn’t laugh with them anymore, couldn’t sit beside him without feeling the weight of everything you didn’t know. Every look, every quiet moment, every soft kindness now felt… wrong. So you made your decision.

You were going to walk away, from all of them. From him most of all

That was how you ended up standing outside his apartment door, your knuckles hovering in the cold hallway air, your stomach twisted into knots. The building was quiet. Too quiet. You could hear your own breathing, sharp and uneven, like your body knew this was dangerous, even if your heart tried to deny it.

You told yourself not to shake. Not now. You had rehearsed this over and over.

You’d tell him you knew. You’d tell him you couldn’t stay in their lives. You’d tell him you were done.

Your hand finally moved, one soft knock, then another. A second later, the door opened.

He stood there, Kaelith, still, composed, the faintest surprise in his eyes when he saw you. No one else around. No laughter. No warmth. Just you and him and the truth caught tight between you. Your throat tightened. You swallowed.

“Kaelith… can I talk to you?”

And for the first time, you weren’t sure if you were more afraid of who he was… …or of what he might say.