OLIVIA’S POV
The morning was quieter than usual.
Jaden was in his study. I heard his footsteps on the floor above mine before seven and the distant sound of the front door closing shortly after. The house settled into its particular daytime stillness after that. Staff moving through their routines. The gardener outside.
I lay in bed for a while just listening to all of it.
A few weeks ago the idea of a quiet morning with nowhere to be and nothing pressing would have felt like a luxury I could not afford. Now it was just Tuesday. I was still adjusting to that.
The absence of emergency. The strange uncomfortable gift of time that did not have a crisis attached to it.
My father was stable. His surgery was scheduled. Jaden’s house had not swallowed me whole.
I decided that today I was
