ALEX POV
Silence has never defeated me before. I have outlasted it in boardrooms filled with men waiting for me to blink first. I’ve broken it in negotiations designed to bleed patience dry. Silence was something I used something I bent until it gave way.
This silence doesn’t bend. It lingers in the Robinson estate like a living thing, pressing into corners, settling into hallways, wrapping itself around my chest until breathing feels like effort. Doors close softly when I pass. Conversations trail off, even the walls feel complicit.
She’s here, I don’t need proof anymore.
I feel her, I turn away from the window and head for my grandmother’s room, the decision sharp and final in my chest. I can’t endure another day of this, not knowing how she is, not seeing her, not facing the consequ
