When Sofia arrived at her desk, she met Alaric, who was standing there.
He had put his suit jacket back on, but he looked smaller somehow, the sharp lines of his shoulders sagging under a weight he could no longer carry. He didn't look like an Alpha king anymore; he looked like a man who had been stripped of his armor.
"The lease is signed," Alaric said, his voice low and hollow. He didn't look at her eyes, focusing instead on a point just past her shoulder. "It's yours. For as long as you want it."
He reached out, his hand trembling almost imperceptibly as he placed a single, silver key on her desk.
"Elias has packed your things from the estate," he continued, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard. "They are already at the apartment. You don't even have to go back to the house. You can leave straight from here."
