Inside the moving car, silence clung like a second skin. Daniel sat rigid in the backseat, staring out the tinted window as the city lights blurred past. His mind refused to let go of the image — Anna sinking beneath the water, her body going limp before he reached her.
He hated how it made him feel. The sheer panic. The helplessness. And worse, the realization of just how much her existence mattered to him.
If he'd been a second slower, his stubborn, infuriating wife would've been gone.
"Boss," Henry spoke cautiously from the driver's seat, glancing through the rearview mirror, "should we head to the mansion first?"
Daniel looked down at his soaked shirt. He was still in the same clothes he'd jumped in to save her, the fabric clinging to him uncomfortably. His hair had mostly dried, but he could already feel a chill setting in.
"No," he said finally, his voice flat. "I'll change at the office."
