Rachel didn’t answer. She just reached up and brushed a strand of hair from Lexi’s cheek.
Lexi’s lips quivered, her teacup shook, but she held back the sob until the cup of tea was safely on the coffee table. And when she finally cried—it wasn’t soft. It was the kind of cry that broke things open. The kind that didn’t ask for permission.
Rachel didn’t say a word. She just held her.
Hours passed before Lexi could move again.
She sat in bed, wrapped in a blanket, staring at her phone. No calls from Julian. No texts. Not even a whisper of an explanation.
She deleted the photo she’d taken of them earlier on the terrace.
And then she blocked his number.
Morning sunlight filtered through sheer curtains, casting pale gold streaks across Lexi’s living room. The silence in her apartment was
