The silence wrapped around her like a heavy suffocating cloak. Eloise stood still in the dim light of the apartment, her heart locked in a whirlpool of emotions she couldn’t name. It wasn’t sadness alone that clung to her bones..... it was the sharp edge of a memory returned, one that hurt and healed at the same time. The past didn’t just drift back quietly; it surged through her veins like wildfire, igniting something she thought she’d buried deep beneath years of silence.
She could still hear it — that voice, young and protective, soaked in ferocity. Richard’s voice, echoing in her mind like it had just happened yesterday.
“If anyone dares to bother her again, I will kill them!”
His words came from a place no one had seen — not even hers. They were raw, snarled through gritted teeth,
