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ESMERALDA'S POV I didn’t realize how quiet a penthouse could be until I was left alone in it. When Leoandros is here, the silence never feels empty. It feels… charged. Like every room is aware of him, like the walls lean toward his voice, like the air itself thickens when he walks through it. Even when he isn’t speaking, there’s a presence—something warm, dangerous, consuming. But today, the moment the door shut behind him, the silence settled in like dust. I stood there for a while after he left, my hand still resting on the edge of the marble counter, listening to the faint echo of his footsteps fade beyond the hallway. The guards murmured something to each other outside, low and respectful, and then even that disappeared. Gone. Just like that. I exhaled slowly, my shoulders drop
- Writer
