ARIA POV
I don’t sleep. I lie on my side and listen to Sebastian’s breathing, steady and controlled beside me, while my mind counts backwards in the dark. Fourteen days here. Before that…
My fingers curl against the sheets. My cycle has always been predictable. Annoyingly predictable. I used to complain about it — about how it arrived exactly on schedule, how I could almost time it to the hour. Now I cling to that predictability like it might save me. I close my eyes and force myself to rewind. Before this villa. Before I walked back into Sebastian’s reach. Before I chose to sacrifice myself. The last time with Sebastian.
—
It was weeks ago. The city still felt loud then. Chaotic, but normal. We were still tangled in that toxic rhythm we never quite escaped. I remember the apartment —
