Chapter 18

• Flashback
• Charlotte paced the small confines of her apartment, the walls closing in around her with every unanswered call. The incessant ringing of Damien's phone in her mind echoed louder than the busy city streets below. It had been weeks since he’d vanished without a word, weeks spent grappling with a silence that felt heavier with each passing day. She clutched her phone as if it held the solution to the gaping void he had left behind.
• “Damien, please," she whispered to the stillness of the room, her heart pounding with desperation as she dialed his number for what felt like the hundredth time. Each time his voicemail greeted her, it sliced a little deeper—her pleas for him to return shriveling under the weight of his absence.