THE WEIGHT OF SILENCE
279 Words
The house was too quiet when I stepped inside.
No hum of the television. No faint music drifting from the study. Only the ticking of the antique clock in the foyer.
Ryan appeared at the top of the stairs, one hand resting casually on the banister. His suit jacket was gone, sleeves rolled to his elbows — a look that should have been disarming but somehow wasn’t.
“You took your time,” he said, his tone perfectly even.
“I wasn’t aware I was on a schedule,” I replied, unbuttoning my coat. My voice sounded steadier than I felt.
He started down the stairs, each step deliberate. “Daniel said you were parked downtown for a while. Thinking about something?”
My grip on my coat tightened. Daniel had been watching me longer than I thought.
“Just… clearing my head,” I said.
Ryan reached the bottom step, his eyes never leaving mine. “I hope it’s nothing that would trouble me.”
His words were soft, but the meaning behind them was sharp.
I managed a small smile. “Why would it?”
For a moment, neither of us moved. The silence between us stretched, thick and heavy.
Then Ryan’s smile returned — slow, practiced, and entirely unreadable.
“Good,” he murmured. “Dinner will be ready in ten. Don’t keep me waiting.”
He walked past me toward the dining room, leaving me alone in the foyer…
…with the sound of my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.
I exhaled slowly, knowing I had to retrieve the envelope before morning.
Because if Ryan suspected what I had, the game would turn deadly fast.
- Writer
