Chapter 96

• Lucia's POV
• I yanked the sheets off Ryan’s side of the bed, my fingers trembling as I smoothed the cold, untouched cotton. Three nights. Three nights since our fight, since he stormed out, since I saw those photos of him with Johanna.. her lips on his, her hands claiming what was supposed to be mine. The pillow still held the faint indent of his head, like a ghost mocking me. My chest ached, a sharp, twisting pain that wouldn’t let go. I dropped the sheets, my breath hitching, and turned away from the bed. I couldn’t stay here, staring at his absence, letting it carve me hollow.
• The mansion was too quiet, the kind of silence that screamed louder than any argument. My bare feet padded across the hardwood, the chill seeping into my soles as I moved through the darkened halls. The air smelled of polished wood and something bitter.. my own fear, maybe. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I had to move, had to find something, anything, that told me where Ryan was. Why he hadn’t come back. Why he’d left me here, drowning in doubts and headlines.