The wind howled against the windows, rattling the glass like a caged animal desperate to break free. Rain lashed against the house in relentless sheets, the kind of downpour that blurred the world outside into a haze of darkness and flickering streetlights.
Isabelle pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders, exhaling slowly as she curled into the corner of the couch. The fire crackled in the dimly lit living room, casting flickering shadows across the space, but it did little to thaw the tension hanging thick in the air.
This wasn’t how the weekend was supposed to go.
With the kids and Sophia away, she’d planned for quiet, for solitude—time to think, to breathe. But the storm had other ideas, grounding Sebastian here with her. Now, the walls felt smaller, the silence louder.
And
