Lexi

The ride back to my apartment felt like the longest one hour of my life. I sat in the back of the taxi, still wearing the designer dress that now felt like a costume, watching the city lights blur past through tears I couldn't stop.

The driver kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror, probably wondering why a woman in diamonds was crying alone in his cab at midnight. I didn't care. I was too numb to care about anything.

When I finally made it to my building, I struggled with the zipper of the dress, my hands shaking too badly to manage the delicate mechanism. After ten minutes of fumbling, I gave up and collapsed onto my couch, still fully dressed, staring at the ceiling.

My phone buzzed with a text from Mia. "Are you okay? Call me when you're ready to talk."

I turned the phone face down. I wasn't ready to talk to anyone.

The silence in my apartment was deafening. For months, I'd grown accustomed to Lucian's presence, his voice, his laughter filling the space. Now it felt hollow, em