All Chapters of The Contract and What We Pretend To Be: Chapter 11 - Chapter 12

[Gabriel's POV]I didn’t remember falling asleep.I just remembered the quiet afterward. The kind that feels heavy but not uncomfortable. Safe, almost. Like for once, my mind wasn’t running in a hundred different directions.When I was woken up by my usual alarm, I quickly turned it off, before I turned to Julia.She still seemed to be asleep, so I decided to let her rest a little longer, while I got myself cleaned up. We needed to talk, about what happened the night before, and about how she was feeling.I got up and headed for the bathroom. I didn’t rush.I never did, but this time it was more deliberate.Even standing under the steady stream of water, letting it run over my shoulders, I moved through everything with the same controlled precision I applied to every other part of my life.From a young age, I learned to always stay composed, and every decision I made always had to be carefully measured. That was the secret to staying on the top, to be... untouchable.At least, that wa