Sonia’s POV
Sleep refused to come that night.
No matter how tightly I wrapped myself in the blanket, no matter how many times I shifted on the bed or tried to force my eyes shut, the silence kept stretching around me, thick, humming, alive.
The villa had its own kind of stillness after midnight. It wasn’t quiet; it breathed. The wooden beams creaked, the waves crashed beyond the cliffs, the wind pressed its hands against the windows as if begging to be let in.
I lay there, listening to it all. The faint murmur of the ocean, the slow ticking of the clock. And somewhere in the distance, footsteps.
Soft. Careful. Not the kind that belonged to someone going to the kitchen for water.
My chest tightened.
I sat up, heart hammering, eyes straining to adjust to the dim light spilling through
