"You're lying."
The words stayed between them long after Roman said them, heavy, unmoving. Jay didn't answer. He didn't argue. He didn't try to fix it. He just looked at him for a second longer, then stepped back.
That was it.
Whatever had been holding the moment together snapped without noise.
Jay turned, walked past him, and went straight for the room. Roman didn't follow this time. He didn't speak again. He didn't try to stop him. That silence followed Jay all the way as he picked up his bag, his movements steady, controlled, like nothing inside him was shifting even though everything was.
He slung the strap over his shoulder and walked back out.
Roman was still standing where he had been, near the center of the room, his posture straight, his expression unreadable, but the tension hadn't left his body. It sat there in the way his jaw was set, in the way his hand was still slightly curled at his side like it remembered what it had just done.
Jay didn't slow down.
