CHAPTER 161

Julia’s POV

I stared at the ceiling, my thoughts spiraling into a dark vortex of desperation and fear. Elijah had just left, his words echoing in my mind.

“I need to do something at work for a while, but I'll be back tonight.” He'd said it so casually, as if he didn't notice the rising panic in my eyes.

His presence had been my only anchor in this sterile, suffocating room, and now that anchor was slipping away.

I turned my head to the side, watching the door through which he had exited. It felt like a finality, a cruel punctuation mark on the sentence of our relationship. He'd been different lately, a little distant, almost aloof. The caring, sweet Elijah he’d been since my “accident” seemed to be fading, replaced by someone more detached and perhaps even eager to get away from me.

I can’t let this happen. No way.

Was it because I had confessed my love for him? The words had spilled out of me, raw and vulnerable, but his reaction had been lukewarm at best. Or was it something else