Chapter 16

Sebastian's car was in the car park.

She got in. They drove.

At a red light, he said: "He was wrong."

She turned to look at him.

"What he said — about not being loved." Sebastian kept his eyes on the road. "He was wrong. You will be. Someone will love you without needing anything back — because you're worth it."

Her chest did something complicated.

She had said what she'd said to her father because she'd needed him to feel the indifference. In truth, she still wanted what she'd always wanted — to be loved simply, without condition, without leverage. She had just decided, a long time ago, that she wasn't built for it. That the only reliable currency was something harder.

She hadn't said any of that. She didn't say it now.