Chapter Sixty-Six – What The Walls Don't Keep Out
The call ended the same way it always did.
Zahid said goodnight to the twins first — they dragged it out as long as possible, the way kids do when they know something good is ending and they're not ready. One more question. One more story. One more minute. He gave them all of it without rushing them once. And then, when they'd finally wound down and been gently herded toward the door by a patient maid, he looked at Angel the way he'd been looking at her the whole call.
Like she was the whole point.
"Get some sleep," he said.
"You too."
A pause. The kind that would've been uncomfortable with anyone else but wasn't with him.
"I mean it, Angel."
"So do I."
The screen went dark.
Angel sat in the quiet of that big, beautiful room for a moment, alone, with nothing but the soft hum of the air conditioning and the distant, barely-there sound of the ocean coming through the walls.
