291: THE NECKLACE.

ELARA’S POV

The second I step into the house, silence swallows me whole.

No echo of movement, no sound but my own breathing. The kind of quiet that creeps into your bones and tells you you’re alone again.

I drop my purse on the table and exhale. The exhaustion in my shoulders fades just enough for my brain to whisper go back out.

Maybe grab coffee, maybe just drive around until the world stops feeling like a padded cage. Anything but this emptiness.

But then—

A soft meow.

I look down. “Hey, Mila.”

She rubs against my ankle, tail flicking, eyes sleepy but curious. She’s been… different lately. Less moody. She actually lets me touch her now.

“You bored?” I ask, crouching to her level and scratching her chin. “Or just hungry?”

She purrs like I said the magic word.

I lift her and head toward the living area where her food bowl sits, still half full from earlier. I bend down, but something makes me pause.

A shadow moves.

Tall. Broad shoulders. Standing half in the dark near the hallway.

Ev