Vivienne stood at the bottom of the stairs for a long moment after Sofia's call ended.
The kitchen was quiet around her. The wine glass still on the counter. The light above the stove still on. Everything exactly as it had been before the call and yet nothing feeling the same.
She replayed Sofia's words slowly.
Why did Daniel remove you completely from the story.
She had not had an answer for that.
She still did not.
And that absence of an answer was the thing that moved her feet toward the stairs.
She climbed them quietly and stopped outside the bedroom door.
She knocked once.
No answer.
She opened it anyway.
Daniel was sitting on the edge of the bed with his phone face down beside him and his elbows resting on his knees. He looked up when she entered but his expression did not
