“Why didn’t you tell me?” he whispered, an edge of accusation in his voice.

“I did,” she replied calmly. “When I needed you most, I reached out. But you were… busy.”

Alexander’s mind flicked to that fleeting, shameful memory: a night of celebration and indulgence, where he had turned his back on his phone and the past it represented, in favor of a future filled with promises of grandeur and fame.