Chapter Twenty-Three: After the Applause
The villa hadn’t changed.
The arches still swept high. The sea still shimmered in the distance. The scent of rosemary still clung to the stone walls.
But Lena had.
When they stepped back inside, something felt... quieter. Not like absence. Like arrival.
She stood in the entrance hall with her coat still on, fingers trailing the banister as if reacquainting herself with it. The light through the stained-glass window cast soft reds and golds across the tile.
She didn’t move to unpack.
Didn’t move at all.
She looked.
Like someone who had left here in pieces and returned whole—not because someone had put her back together, but because she'd done it herself.
Behind her, Nikolai stood holding their bags, hesitant to set them down.
He had watche
