The laughter hadn't fully faded when the sharp, nervous sound of a cleared throat cut through it.
Everyone turned.
Raul stood at the threshold, looking like a man facing a firing squad he had personally assembled. His weight shifted from one foot to the other, his hands stuffed deep into his pockets, his eyes fixed somewhere on the floor tiles as if they owed him something.
Olivia's face changed in an instant. The warmth drained out of it like water through cracked glass. Her spine straightened, her jaw set, and her hands curled at her sides.
"What are you doing here?"
Raul's eyes flicked up briefly, then back down.
"I asked you a question." Her voice had dropped an octave, quiet and controlled in a way that was somehow worse than shouting. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
She was already on her feet.
"Olivia," Sumaya said softly.
"Are you here to finish what your friend started? Is that it?"
