Lily stirred her tea slowly, watching the spiral of cream dissolve into the dark liquid. Leo was across from her, scrolling his phone, his free hand resting beside his untouched plate. The silence between them stretched not cold, not warm just a hollow echo of what a marriage should be.

She didn’t expect apologies.

Not from a man like him.

But she wanted honesty.

Even if it broke her.

“Did you sleep well last night?” she asked finally, her voice light, practiced.

Leo looked up, eyes unreadable. “Yeah. Out like a rock. You?”

“I took a walk around midnight,” she said carefully. “The east wing is beautiful at night.”

There...