The silence in the kitchen became suffocatingly heavy. The warmth from the stove, the gentle melody Lucy had been humming just seconds ago, all of it vanished, replaced by an icy, paralyzing dread.
Austin stared down at his phone, his thumb freezing over Caleb's message. The woman I arranged before… She's in the city. His jaw clenched so hard a muscle ticked violently in his cheek. His knuckles turned stark white against the casing of the phone.
Lucy’s smile slowly faded as she watched him. She wasn't naive. She had seen Austin angry, she had seen him commanding as a CEO, but she had never seen him look utterly dangerous like this.
"Austin?" she asked softly, stepping away from the counter. The wooden spoon in her hand felt heavy. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Austin didn’t look up immed
