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Chapter 131 The Storm After Silence

Author: Royal Jay
last update Last Updated: 2025-07-21 17:30:04

—Sophia’s POV

It was late.

Not the kind of late you can count. Not minutes ticking or hours dragging.

This kind of late settled in your bones. Heavy. Still. The kind of late that made everything feel like an afterthought.

Ethan was pacing on the balcony again. Shadow carved sharp against the pale of the moonlight.

One hand in his coat pocket, the other clenching and unclenching like it wanted to hit something but didn’t know what.

“Irene’s asleep,” I said quietly, holding the baby monitor close like it might protect me from what I already knew.

He didn’t stop.

Didn’t turn.

Didn’t speak.

“I said—”

“I heard you, Aria.”

I froze.

That name.

He hadn’t used it in months.

It used to mean beginning. Now it meant something was unraveling again.

“You’re angry,” I said.

“No.”

That one syllable felt like it weighed more than the air between us.

“I know when you are.”

He turned then. Finally.

And I wished he hadn’t.

Not because of what I saw, but because of what I felt.

The way grief and fury sat
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