MIA’S POV
The house felt different the moment I stepped inside.
Not louder.
Not quieter.
Just wrong.
Like something had shifted beneath the surface, unseen but undeniable.
I paused just inside the entrance, my fingers tightening around the strap of my bag. The chandelier above cast its usual warm glow. The marble floors gleamed exactly the same, and yet it didn’t feel like home.
It felt like a stage.
And I had just walked into a scene that had already begun without me.
I exhaled slowly and stepped forward.
Each step was deliberate, measured, and careful.
If there was one thing I had learned, it was this: they watched when you weren’t looking.
And they listened when you thought they weren’t.
“I was starting to think you wouldn’t come back tonight.”
Her voice came s
