The weeks settled into a rhythm that should have felt stabilizing.
They did not.
For the first time in her adult life, Lana found herself existing in a wide, uninterrupted stretch of solitude. No flirtations. No dates. No playful messages lighting up her phone late at night. No emotional rollercoaster disguised as romance. No one to chase. No one chasing her.
It was quiet.
Clean.
Almost peaceful.
And unbearably loud.
Every morning she woke alone in the vast villa that had once felt overwhelming with possibility but now echoed with absence. The silence pressed gently but persistently against her ribs. Some mornings she lingered in bed longer than necessary, fingers curling into the pillow beside her as though warmth might remain if she searched hard enough.
It never did.
She told h
