Chapter Nine

Mira's P.O.V

The sun filtered softly through the curtains, casting a warm glow across the polished wooden floor of the bedroom. I sat up slowly in bed, one hand instinctively settling on my lower belly. It was still flat, but somehow I already felt the weight of this tiny life inside me physically, emotionally, spiritually.

The night before lingered like a ghost in the air. Luca had returned late, quiet and unreadable. We’d barely spoken, but there was something in the way his eyes softened when he looked at me that made the silence less unbearable. Something in the way his steps paused outside my door, how he gently placed a blanket over me when he thought I was asleep on the couch. Like he was learning how to care for someone again and maybe trying not to break them in the process.

I slipped out of bed and walked to the window. The garden below shimmered under the morning light, too peaceful for someone carrying a secret as heavy as mine. The air carried the scent of dew-soaked r