Avery's POV
The house felt different once he left.
Quieter—but not lighter.
I stood at the front window, arms folded tightly across her chest, watching the black car disappear down the long driveway. The engine faded. The gates closed. And just like that, he was gone.
With my mother.
I told myself I should feel relieved.
I didn't.
The silence pressed in, thick and uncomfortable. It wasn't peace—it was withdrawal. Like something sharp had been pulled out of the room, leaving behind an ache I wasn't willing to examine too closely.
"Two weeks," my mother had said earlier, bustling around the house, excitement bright in her voice. "Business trip. We'll be back before you know it."
I nodded back then. Smiled, even.
Now, she I hollow.
I turned away from the window and leaned forehead briefly against the cool glass, exhaling slowly. It made no sense. He hadn't touched me. Hadn't said more than a word. Had barely acknowledged my existence.
And yet—
My body remembered him.
The weight of his gaze.
The way the room had bent around him.
The sharp awareness that had lit my nerves, leaving me restless and unsteady in my own skin.
I hated that I missed it.
I pushed herself upright and walked back into the dining room. The chair i'd been sitting in the night before was still slightly out of place. I stared at it longer than necessary, my pulse ticking faster for reasons I refused to name.
This was wrong.
I knew that.
But the absence felt worse than the fear ever had.
My phone buzzed in her hand.
Mom: We've landed. Everything okay?
I typed back quickly.
Yeah. I'm fine.
The lie slid easily into place.
I dropped the phone onto the table and sank into the chair, fingers gripping the edge. Without him here, the house felt too open. Too unguarded. I hadn't realized how much I'd adjusted herself around his presence—how carefully i'd breathed, moved, existed.
Now there was nothing pressing down on me.
I missed the pressure.
The thought startled me.
I swallowed, jaw tightening. Get a grip, I told myself. He was just a man. Dangerous, controlling, unreadable—but still just a man. My mother's fiancé. Nothing more.
So why did my skin still prickle, as if he were watching her from somewhere unseen?
I closed her eyes.
For the first time since he'd entered my life, I understood something terrifying:
His absence affected me more than his presence ever had.
I took out my phone and sent a text message.
I was all alone at home except for the workers. If my Mom and her new 'fiance' are out there having some fun why shouldn't I.
My phone buzzed
I'll pick you up.
It was better than doing nothing . I walked upstairs to my room to get dressed