Was it failure to admit that sometimes, in the quiet moments before dawn, the voices of doubt grew louder than my ambition?

Roma’s smirking face flashed through my mind, his confidence in the festival square a reminder of everything I fought against.

The thrill of proving men like him wrong was utterly intoxicating. But Daniel… Daniel was different. The way his parts of professional drive and genuine warmth seemed to coexist without conflict. It made me question everything they’d drilled into me about keeping people at arm’s length.

Standing at my closet now, I surveyed the rows of body armor - suits in lawyer-approved shades of navy and charcoal.

I locked the door of my heart long ago, but somehow he’d found a way to pick the lock.