Evelyn's POV
Coming back to our house after so long, I suddenly realized how cramped it felt.
Not that it was actually much smaller than Julian’s villa. But something dawned on me the moment I stepped inside: every inch of this place had been part of the life Sebastian designed for me. On the surface, it looked cozy and comfortable. In reality, it was a beautifully renovated cage—lovely doors and windows, sure, but where the exit was had never been my decision.
The house looked almost exactly the same as the day I left.
The couch hadn’t moved. The lamp in the entryway still glowed that warm yellow. Even the magazine on the coffee table—the one Sebastian had casually flipped through—was still lying there with a few pages bent back, as if nothing had happened these past few weeks.
But s
