EMMA
The next morning, the world felt strangely too still.
Maybe it was the aftermath of the New Year celebration—the loud music, the laughter, the burst of fireworks still ringing faintly in my head. Or maybe it was the weight of what I’d said to Gabriel.
I’ll stay. Just a little longer.
But the estate grounds had a strange hush layered beneath the winter calm. Almost like… waiting.
By late afternoon, I needed air—real air, not perfumed by the kitchen, or tinged with motorcycle oil, or thick with the tension I could never fully ignore when Gabriel was around. So I bundled into my coat, grabbed a mug of hot tea, and decided to take a short walk along the treeline.
The woods behind the estate were tall and ancient, their branches laced with frost like veins of silver. The air was cris
