REINA

The house felt suffocating without him in it.

Paolo’s absence pressed down on me like a physical weight. His scent still lingered in the air — that familiar cologne mixed with something uniquely him. His shirt was still draped carelessly over the chair in the bedroom. The silence he left behind was louder than any argument we’d ever had.

He was gone.

I had called him five times now.

Each unanswered ring carved deeper into my chest.

“Pick up… please, Paolo,” I whispered on the last attempt, my voice cracking with desperation. “Don’t do this to me. Not tonight.”

Voicemail again.

I stared at the darkened phone screen until...