Chapter Twenty-Nine: When the Frame Stays Empty
Lena’s POV
She didn’t sleep that night.
Not from restlessness.
From clarity.
Her thoughts didn’t spin. They slowed. They stepped into neat little rows like gallery walls lining themselves without effort.
She had told him maybe soon.
And she had meant it.
That was the part that kept her awake.
Not the weight of possibility.
But the absence of fear.
Letting Nikolai close again didn’t feel like surrender anymore.
It felt like control.
A quiet one.
A learned one.
The kind of control that didn’t require armor to maintain.
**
The next morning, she arrived at the studio before sunrise.
The museum was still closed. Only staff wandered the halls, sipping early coffee and speaking in hushed tones.
Her exhibit space—her sanctuary—was
