Sonia’s POV
Morning came like a lie.
The first thing I noticed was the quiet, not the peaceful kind, but the kind that presses against your ears until you start to hear your own heartbeat. The villa was never this still. Even the birds seemed to have forgotten to sing.
When I opened my eyes, the light filtering through the curtains was dull, gray, like the world itself was holding its breath. My head still throbbed from lack of sleep. I had dreamt of footsteps. Whispers. Of a door closing somewhere down the hall.
But that wasn’t the dream part.
That was real.
I sat up slowly, every sound magnified, the soft rustle of my sheets, the click of the bedside clock. And beneath it all… something else. Something missing.
Hayley’s laughter.
The same sharp, golden laughter that had haunted t
