Nicholas's POV:
The house had been unnervingly quiet these past few days—not the kind of quiet that brought peace, but the kind that clawed at your chest and left you breathless. It was the silence that followed a storm, heavy with unspoken words and the bitter sting of unresolved tension. The air felt charged, crackling faintly with the remnants of chaos, as if something was waiting to erupt.
I sat at the long dining table, staring at the untouched breakfast in front of me. The smell of freshly brewed coffee mingled with the buttery toast and scrambled eggs, but it did nothing for me. My appetite had vanished the moment Stephanie locked herself in her room.
Three days. Three long, suffocating days, and she still hadn’t come out.
Not for food. Not for air. Not for anything.
My fingers
