Ava's pov The entire drive, my mum didn’t stop talking.“Victor says the neighborhood is very quiet,” she said, her voice light, almost breathless. “And the house, Ava, wait till you see it. It’s beautiful. I mean, I’ve shown you pictures, but it’s different in person.”“Mm.”“And there’s a guest wing, and a study, and the kitchen is just, oh, you’ll love it. We can finally have people over without feeling cramped.”“Yeah.”She glanced at me briefly, like she was checking if I was sharing the excitement.I wasn’t.My phone rested face down on my lap, but I didn’t need to flip it over to know what was on the screen. Missed calls, Messages from Ryan.I hadn’t answered any of them.Not the first one. Not the fifth. Not even the last message he sent last night.*We need to talk.*I stared out the window instead, watching the city slowly thin into quieter streets, bigger houses, cleaner roads. Everything looked… different. Polished.Like a place where nothing messy was allowed to exist.“
Last Updated : 2026-05-08 Read more