The silence was the first thing that settled in after the car disappeared down the street.
It was not the soft kind, the kind that wrapped you in stillness and calm. No. This was a silence that pressed against the walls, that hung heavy in the corners of the room, that seemed to expand with every breath Tessa took. She lingered by the window even after the taillights vanished, her hand still pressed to her face, her chest heaving with shallow breaths.
The house felt emptier now. Colder.
She pushed herself away from the window and crossed the room slowly, her limbs heavy, as though the weight of humiliation and betrayal clung to her like damp clothes. Her legs carried her aimlessly, pacing one corner of the room to the other. The bed, neatly made by the housekeeper earlier that morning,
