Chapter 30
Sydney had built walls again. Not the kind that protected, but the kind that confined—the kind that made the air feel too thin and the silence too loud. She moved through the house like a stranger now, eyes downcast, words clipped and hollow. Lia noticed it, of course, but didn't press. She simply watched with that sharp gaze of hers, the one that missed nothing, and tended to Euri with calm, patient care. But it wasn't Lia's presence that carved the deepest ache in Sydney's chest. It was Alan. He came daily, a quiet, looming presence in the hallway and by Euri's side, tending to her with a gentleness that should have been foreign to him—but wasn't. He didn't belong in this house, didn't belong in her world again, and yet he moved through it like he'd never left. Sydney watched from af
- Writer
