Chapter 38
Astrid’s POV
Rhett hadn’t come home.
It had been days since that night he disappeared with Layla, and every hour without a single word from him felt like needles pressing into my chest.
I hated myself for caring. I wasn’t supposed to care. Not about the way his absence carved out silence so deep it hurt to breathe even for a moment.
I’d tried calling Layla, tried messaging Rhett, but both had gone unanswered. He was deliberately ignoring me, and I knew it.
“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath, tossing the useless phone onto the couch.
I should have been stronger than this. But somehow Rhett Rivers had embedded himself into my veins like an influence, and ignoring him only made me crave him more.
The sudden knock at the door jolted me out of my thoughts. I straightened,
