Ethan POV

The moment we stepped inside the house, the silence wrapped around us like something alive—thick, heavy, suffocating. Amelia didn’t speak. Didn’t look at me. She carried Luke upstairs without meeting my eyes once, her movements stiff, mechanical, as if she’d left her body somewhere back at the gala.

And I… I followed like a ghost.

My pulse hammered in my ears, drowning out everything else. Each step up the stairs felt heavier than the last—as if I were walking ...