You had just stepped out to take the trash when voices drifted down the hallway.

Curious, you glance over and freeze.

Ethan—your quiet, always-polite neighbor—was stumbling toward the stairs, supported on either side by two women you’d never seen before. Their clothes were bold and attention-grabbing, and the way they clung to him felt far too familiar for comfort.

“Of course he gets all the spotlight,” one of them said with a low laugh. “No one else pulls it off like he does.”

Ethan’s hair was messy, his jacket crooked, and his usual calm expression was drowned in alcohol and exhaustion. Their voices followed him down the corridor, heavy with implication, until the three of them disappeared into the building—leaving an unsettling silence behind.