Devon POV
The wind clawed at me through the half-rolled window as the SUV rumbled down the old road leading out of Astria, bleeding twilight into the forest ahead.
I kept my eyes on the path, one hand gripping the wheel tighter than I needed to, the other resting uselessly on my thigh. I could feel the tension in my knuckles. My chest. My mind.
I had asked Franco to ride with me. I needed the silence. I needed space. I needed the damn air.
And still, it wasn't enough.
Eleanor’s face haunted the inside of my skull. Not the yelling, not even the tears. Just… the silence. That quiet after the storm, when she looked at me like she didn’t know who the hell I was anymore. Like she was seeing a stranger.
Maybe she was.
Maybe that’s all I am now, a stranger to the woman I swore to love, a s
