FAZER LOGINMaya’s POVThe villa overlooks Lake Como in a way that almost feels unreal with enormous windows stretching from floor to ceiling while pale morning light spreads slowly across the water below turning everything silver and gold beneath the quiet Italian sunrise and most people would probably look at this place and see peace.I see something entirely different when I look at it I see control, I see privacy and I see the reward for months of planning that nearly fell apart the night of the explosion.The villa had been prepared long before Ethan was brought here because I knew from the beginning that if I wanted him separated completely from the life he built with Lena I would need somewhere isolated enough to bury him without anyone asking questions. America would have been too obvious and staying anywhere remotely connected to his old world would have been dangerous which made Italy perfect because places like this protect wealthy secrets better than any locked room ever could.The a
Lena’s POVGrief does not disappear simply because another day begins and motherhood does not pause long enough to allow you time to recover from heartbreak which means exhaustion becomes something constant, something woven into every hour whether you are ready for it or not.By the third night back in Los Angeles my body feels so drained that even opening my eyes hurts but sometime after two in the morning Eli’s cries break through the silence of the bedroom and pull me awake instantly.For a moment I lie there staring at the ceiling while nausea rolls heavily through my stomach, sharp enough to make me press my hand against my mouth before I even sit up, and the combination of pregnancy exhaustion and grief settles over me so heavily that I honestly do not know how I am still functioning.Eli cries again through the baby monitor louder this time, and despite how badly my body wants rest I push the blankets back and force myself out of bed.The bedroom feels painfully empty without E
Lena’s POVThe paper in my hands does not feel real I stare at it for so long that the words begin to blur together black ink swimming against white while my mind struggles to catch up with what the doctor already confirmed what my body already knew before I allowed myself to admit it.Pregnant three months I should feel happiness, shock and fear but instead I feel grief so deep that it settles into my bones because the first person I want to tell is the one person who is not here to hear it.The clinic parking lot is quiet around me as I sit motionless behind the steering wheel the engine still off, the ultrasound photo trembling slightly between my fingers while tears gather in my eyes faster than I can stop them beside me Eli sleeps peacefully in his car seat, completely unaware that my entire world just shifted again.His tiny chest rises and falls steadily beneath the soft blue blanket wrapped around him, his curls messy from sleep, his small hand resting against his cheek in a w
Lena’s POVGrief changes shape over time, but it never truly leaves at first it feels violent and unbearable like something tearing through your chest every second of the day but eventually it becomes quieter, settling into the spaces between moments until you almost forget it is there, and then something small happens a scent, a memory, a song playing somewhere in the distance, and suddenly it is crushing you all over again.Three months have passed since Ethan’s funeral and somehow the world has continued moving as if nothing important disappeared from it.The island feels emptier now not physically but emotionally.The white sand still stretches endlessly beneath the sun, the water still glows blue beneath the light and the villas still stand untouched in their polished perfection but none of it feels the same anymore because he is not here.Nothing feels real without him here.I stand outside one of the villas overlooking the ocean my arms folded tightly against myself as the wind
Lena’s POVLos Angeles feels louder than I remember but not in a way that comforts me because every sound seems distant and hollow like the city kept moving while something inside me stopped completely.The car slows as we turn into the long driveway of the mansion and my chest tightens the moment the gates open because nothing has changed.The gardens are still perfectly trimmed the fountain still runs with the same quiet elegance and the house stands exactly the way it always did untouched, unmoved, as if time refused to acknowledge that everything inside me has fallen apart.I do not move right away when the car stops because this was home once this was where everything began and everything broke and now I am back here without him.Keenan opens the door slowly his movements careful, like he understands what this place means to me.“We can take it one step at a time you do not have to rush anything,” he says gently.I nod even though nothing about this can be taken slowly and I step
Lena’s POVThe first thing I feel is the weight it presses into me slowly, like I am surfacing through something heavy and thick my body reluctant to move my mind even slower to catch up, and for a moment I do not understand where I am or why everything feels so far away from me.There is a sound somewhere close steady and rhythmic and it takes me a few seconds to realize it is a machine, something monitoring something something important, something connected to me, and that realization pulls me a little closer to awareness.My eyes open slowly the light is too bright at first sharp and unfamiliar, and I blink against it trying to focus trying to make sense of the shapes around me, the pale walls, the sterile smell, the quiet hum of equipment that does not belong to anything familiar.A hospital.The memory does not come all at once it slips in piece by piece the shore, Ryan, Eli and the struggle.My chest tightens suddenly my body reacting before my mind can fully catch up and I shif
Lena’s POVFour weeks have passed since that night and sometimes it feels like four days and other times like four years.The island looks the same and the house is new but it already smells like me.John and Caroline bought it for me without hesitation and that still makes my chest ache. It isn’t
Lena’s POVWaking up feels wrong. It feels like being pulled up from deep water when my lungs weren’t ready yet. My chest feels tight, my head throbs and there is a steady beeping sound that won’t stop like it is reminding me that I’m still here whether I’m ready for that or not.My eyes flutter op
Lena’s POVThe hospital room feels bigger the moment the nurse tells me I can go home as if the walls have stretched while I wasn’t looking and now everything feels open, exposed and too much.I sit on the edge of the bed with my feet dangling over the side staring at the floor while the nurse remo
Ethan’s POVHospitals have a way of stopping time. Minutes feel like hours until I can’t tell if it is morning or night unless someone opens a curtain. I have been sitting in this same chair beside Lena’s bed for so long my body feels stiff in places I didn’t even know could go numb.My mom sits on







