Meanwhile, outside the ward, Daniel stood quietly, his back resting against the cool wall.
It had barely been a minute since Anna had stepped inside, yet an unfamiliar restlessness crept into his chest. He checked his watch once, then slipped his phone back into his pocket without unlocking it. Waiting had never been his weakness—but this felt different.
Collin had asked to speak with Anna.
That alone was enough to set something off inside him.
He told himself there was nothing unusual about it. People chose their listeners carefully, especially when truth was involved. Still, the unease refused to settle. It wasn't jealousy. It wasn't distrust.
It was instinct.
Daniel's jaw tightened as his mind replayed fragments of the past—Collin's silence, his calculated defiance, the way he had surrendered without resistance. None of it fit the pattern of a desperate man.
This meeting wasn't ordinary.
It carried weight. Purpose.
