Chapter 82 – A Second War
****Isabelle’s POV****
The night was deceptively quiet.
The kind of quiet that settled over the city like a heavy blanket, smothering sound, dulling even the usual hum of life outside the villa. No engines growled on the road, no footsteps passed along the cobbled sidewalks, no echo of laughter or late-night conversations drifted from the neighborhood. Even the wind seemed to have withdrawn, leaving the air stale, unmoving, and thick with something unspoken.
It wasn’t peace.
It was the silence before the storm.
I stood on the balcony outside my room, wrapped in a silk robe, staring at the city lights that glittered faintly in the distance. They should have looked beautiful. They usually did. Tonight, they felt like stars burning too brightly before they blin
