I didn’t sleep that night not because of the noise online, though there was plenty.
Not because of the slap heard around the room, though that still rang in my ears. I didn’t sleep because Noah didn’t say a word after Catherine’s final line.
We got home in silence. He laid Nova down gently, his movements careful, almost reverent. I stayed in the kitchen, fingers curling around the edge of the island, staring at the engagement ring on my finger like it was suddenly a stranger to me.
“You’re quiet,” I said at last.
He leaned against the counter, shoulders heavy, face drawn like he’d aged ten years in the last hour.
“There’s something I should’ve told you sooner.”
I folded my arms. “You think?”
He nodded, slow, as if bracing himself.
And then… he told me.
Catherine had been his fianc
