Chapter 30 The Ice Wall

• Sophia’s Pov
• The morning light poured across the kitchen floor too bright for the weight in my chest. Clara had cleared the breakfast plates an hour ago, but I lingered with a lukewarm cup of tea, listening to the house breathe, those subtle creaks of an old house settling.
• It was quiet, unusually so. Dominic’s house was never truly silent. Usually I heard the low murmur of his phone calls from his office, the measured cadence of men discussing shipments and security routes. Today: nothing. Only the sound of my own heartbeat, steady and defensive.