Ten Minutes

Amelia's POV My legs are shaking so badly I can barely stand. The changing room door is right there—three steps and I'm safe, hidden, away from the grey eyes that have followed me across an ocean. I wrap the towel tighter around my body like it can protect me from the inevitability of this moment. "Amelia. Please." The voice stops me cold. Not because it's commanding—Victor's commands I could resist. But because it's broken. Raw. Stripped of every carefully constructed defense. "Ten minutes." His footsteps approach, but he stops several feet away. Giving me space. Respecting boundaries he's never respected before. "That's all I'm asking. Ten minutes of your time. And if after that you want me gone, I'll leave. I'll disappear from your life completely. You'll never see me again." The promise should feel like relief. Instead, it feels like a threat. I turn slowly, keeping the towel clutched to my chest. He looks worse up close—the shadows under his eyes darker, the stubble on his jaw hea