AVERY’S POV:
Routine had become my safe space—predictable, comfortable, and yet, in the quiet moments, I felt something creeping in. Restlessness. A hollow kind of boredom. I told myself I liked this life, this peace, but deep down, I knew what was missing.
Axel.
It wasn’t just his presence—it was the way he made the world feel more alive. The way everything around him burned with danger and excitement. And yet, it had been over a week with no sign of him or Ryan. Nothing.
I told myself not to care. I wasn’t his wife, wasn’t obligated to worry. But the silence stretched too long, pressing against my chest like a weight I refused to acknowledge.
Instead, I poured myself into the people still here—Sea, Baron, even Katie and her mute entourage who communicated mostly through stif
