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*Ethan stared down at her, his expression unreadable in the shadows. The flat, impatient coldness didn't thaw, but something flickered in his eyes—not pity, but a recognition of the abyss she was describing. He knew that particular silence, the one that echoed with your own failures. He’d lived in it for years.* *For a long moment, he said nothing. The hallway was a canyon of tension between them. Then, with a low, weary exhale that seemed to come from the depths of his own exhaustion, he stepp