Julian sent Vivi a message, only to see a "failed to send" notification.
Same story when he tried calling.
He frowned, borrowed a guest's phone on a whim, and dialed her number. No answer.
Julian let out a cold, humorless laugh. He was almost impressed by her audacity.
He couldn't believe Vivi was making this big a deal out of something so minor.
So he'd wrongly accused her of taking Ellie's necklace. So she'd been hurt. Was that really worth all this?
If anything, he'd been too good to Vivi all these years. That was the problem. It had made her jealous and unreasonable, time and time again.
But then he thought of her eyes, that hollow stillness, that quiet, aching calm, and something in his chest pulled without warning.
Like a thousand tiny bites he couldn't locate, not sharp enou
