Chapter 71

Caroline’s Point of View

The morning light filters through the curtains, but it does nothing to lift the weight in my chest. I sit by the window, staring at my phone, willing it to ring. The house is silent, the kind of silence that makes every creak of anything sound louder than it should.

Knoxx hasn’t called. Not once.

I thought he might notice I wasn’t there when he woke up—or maybe when Dolly and his mother pointed it out. I thought he’d try to contact me, to say something. Apologize, fight, explain—anything. But the hours have stretched on, and my phone screen remains painfully blank.

I drop the phone onto the table and rub my temples, trying to ease the tension that’s been building since last night. What am I doing? The question loops in my mind over and over, louder each time. I’ve always believed that if you worked hard enough, you could make a relationship work. But this? This doesn’t feel like a relationship anymore. It feels like a battlefield, with no clear winner and on