Sofia woke to sunlight pouring through the tall windows of the Ravenstrong mansion.
For a moment, she lay still beneath the linen sheets, replaying fragments of their mountain escape—the stars reflected in the lake, Adam's voice melting through the firelight, and his fingers brushing her cheek as if it burned to touch her.
She smiled to herself. Something had shifted. Gently. Quietly. But undeniably. And for once, she didn't feel like a stranger in this house.
She rose lightly in her steps, wrapping a soft robe around her frame and padding barefoot across the marble floors. The halls of the mansion were unusually still, but she didn't think much of it—maybe Adam was just in the garden or on a call.
She went to the dining room first, heart oddly buoyant. But there was no sign of him. Not in the library. Not in the study.
Not even a coffee cup was left on the terrace where he sometimes watched the morning fog roll over the cliffs.
