Chapter 24 – Unwritten Confessions

• The garden was quieter now.
• The late afternoon sun cast long shadows between the hedges, staining the marble paths in gold. Alina wandered without purpose, hands brushing the tops of lavender stems, heart still echoing the tension from the last few days. Since the storm, something had shifted. Luciano had become gentler—not in words, not in power—but in presence. He hadn’t touched her since the rooftop, but she could feel him in everything: the wine Teresa left on her table, the book she found turned to a page she once mentioned, the silence he no longer filled with commands.
• Today, she wanted answers again. Not about him. About her.