Serena:
After Matteo left, the silence wrapped around me again—but this time, it wasn’t empty. It hummed with the echo of his voice, the heat of his mouth, the look in his eyes like he saw something in me I hadn’t dared name.
I sat on the edge of the bed, the coin pendant resting like a promise over my sternum, still warm from his touch.
And I waited.
Not for him.
Not for any of them.
But for whatever would come next.
Because something was coming. I could feel it in the way the air thickened, like the whole city was holding its breath. In the way my skin prickled, like someone had written a prophecy just beneath the surface.
I didn’t want to be afraid of it.
I wasn’t afraid.
But I was ready.
I dressed slow, methodical. Not for allure—there’d been enough of that. Enough seduction
