The stars were the only ones still awake.
Sleep had long abandoned me. Not after the way Liam shut me down. The villa was still, lit only by the occasional flicker of outdoor lanterns. Everyone else was tucked away in their corners of dreams, or drama.
Wrapped in a throw blanket, I padded out barefoot on the patio. The tiles were cool beneath my feet. Above me, the velvet sky stretched wide and endless, stars scattered like secrets too stubborn to stay hidden. They blinked back like they knew too much.
“You too, huh?”
I turned to the voice. Noah sat on one of the loungers a few feet away, a bottle of water in his hand, his eyes also locked on the sky.
“Yeah,” I said softly, curling into the lounger beside him. The breeze caught the fringe of my blanket, tugging gently like a silent qu
