Chapter 487
Steve's point of view
I drew a long, heavy breath to anchor my scattered focus before dropping a terrifyingly simple truth into his ear:
"I came to New York."
The line cut dead for a fraction of a second, as if the words had slammed headfirst into a brick wall of disbelief, before his voice ricocheted back with an overwhelming surge of outraged shock:
"New York?!"
I gave a slow nod to the empty air, my pupils locked onto the dark floorboards as I answered with flat, unbothered dryness:
"Yeah."
His tension spiked instantly, his voice shaking with suspicion and suffocating anxiety as he pressed on:
"I found the front door smashed in and..."
I cut him off before he could spiral into his worst-case scenarios, my words dropping heavy and dry to dodge a premature confrontation:
"It's a long story..."
