Chapter 53

• Chapter 53: What’s Left Unsaid
• They finally reach the penthouse. The elevator ride is steeped in silence, tension riding high and thick in the air like an invisible storm cloud pressing down between them. When the doors slide open, Luca steps out first, his stride long, stiff, mechanical—as if every step is calculated to avoid her presence.
• He fumbles with the door, then shoves it open and stumbles inside. The place is dark except for the faint city glow bleeding through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Without looking back, he stretches his arms as he walks, cracking his neck from side to side, his body loose but his mood unreadable. She watches him drift toward the kitchen like a shadow floating across polished floors.