Chapter Seven: Collisions
Ethan noticed the change immediately.
The distance in Lila's eyes. The way she flinched when he reached for her attention. When he finally asked what was wrong, she told him the truth—or at least part of it.
"Someone from my past came back."
Ethan's face hardened, not with jealousy but fear. The kind that comes when you realize you were never alone in someone's heart.
Later that week, fate—or cruelty—forced them all into the same room.
Marcus and Ethan met without knowing who the other was to Lila. Two men, both carrying quiet authority, both sensing an invisible rivalry. The tension was unmistakable, charged with something primal and unspoken.
When realization struck—when Ethan understood who Marcus was—the air shifted.
Some sins do not compete. They collide.