Chapter 51 Fractured Nights And Unspoken Fears

• The penthouse sat in a heavy, velvet hush, the city lights a dull glow through the vast windows. Clara stirred, disoriented at first, then aware of the soft shuffle of footsteps echoing through the hollow spaces of the apartment. She slipped out of bed, the cool marble chilling her bare feet, and followed the sound.
• Ethan stood near the glass wall, shoulders rigid, hands clenched into fists at his sides. The skyline stretched behind him, cold and endless but his focus was elsewhere, trapped in some shadowed memory.
• “You’re still fighting something that doesn’t exist anymore,” Clara whispered, her voice cutting through the silence like a fragile thread.