KAREN
Seeing Luca with Aria felt like being slapped in public and expected to smile afterward. I could still see them every time I blinked, his hand on the steering wheel, her sitting close, and too comfortable, like she belonged there. My chest burned, my thoughts tangled, and the silence of my apartment only made it worse. I did not want to be alone. I did not trust myself to sit still without thinking about the both of them.
So I drove.
I told myself that being somewhere else would help clear my head, that distance would quiet the noise in my heart. That somewhere else was my parents’ home. I had not been there in a long time, not since my career pulled me fully into Aveline, not since my life became interviews, schedules, and cameras. Still, the thought of home felt grounding, like
