“I Never Knew”

Lucian’s POV

The world had never felt this quiet.

The remote villa’s silence had wrapped around me like a weighted blanket since the day I drove here and tossed my phone onto the couch without so much as a glance back. I’d told myself I needed time, time to think, time to breathe, time to escape the noise.

But I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t breathing. I was hiding.

Every sunrise filtered through the glass doors like an accusation. Every meal I made in the open-plan kitchen tasted like guilt. Every night I laid my head on the pillow and stared at the wooden ceiling beams, wondering how...