The Line

"Do you understand that I'm here to help you?" I asked, the question hanging between us like a promise-or maybe a warning. I was growing tired of our one-sided conversations and these bars that felt more like a wall dividing our understanding of each other. Maybe I was getting closer than I should, but I wanted to understand him.
His face darkened, brooding as if he was resigned to a fate he couldn't escape. Maybe he already knew death was close and had accepted it. Was this the truth about men? Were they really this fragile beneath their bravado?
He shifted, watching me from the shadows, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees, dark hair falling over his face. But his eyes betrayed an intensity, as though he was studying me as closely as I examined him.
"It doesn't matter," he muttered, his voice hoarse. "I'll be on that seawall with the others soon enough."
And just like that, he shut down again. He seemed to expect me to turn him in, to fulfill his wish for punishment. In a twisted way, it was almost like he wanted to die. But he'd let something slip, a hint I couldn't ignore.

After the Great Collapse, women across the globe withdrew from society, forming secluded communities to escape the violence they associated with men. Valentina, born into this new world, has lived her entire life without seeing a man she never cared to. But as tensions grow and threats emerge that go beyond what they've come to know of men, a group of raiders is captured on her island.
An aspiring lawyer, Valentina, and her classmates are assigned to represent these men at their trial. Her defendant is Alexander, a dark-eyed, weary figure who seems to carry as much mystery as defiance. Through their guarded conversations, Valentina finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew, wondering if what she's been taught served her or simply served others. As their bond deepens, she faces an impossible realization: she is drawn to someone she knows she can never truly have.