EMMA'S POV
Emma woke to the muted hum of the city below, the sunlight filtering softly through the blinds and painting slivers of gold across the apartment floor. It was quiet—too quiet, perhaps—but the stillness was welcome, a reprieve from the relentless rhythm of life she had carried in Damian's absence. For the first time in weeks, the apartment felt like a space she could breathe in fully, claim without guilt. She stretched slowly, the muscles in her back stiff from yesterday's long hours at the studio, and glanced toward the bed. Damian wasn't there. Not yet. His absence was no longer the sharp ache it had been when he was away across the continent; it was simply a hollow space waiting to be filled, a reminder that life moved on even when she wasn't ready to keep pace.
