AVA’S POV

I don’t know if I had the right to feel broken after seeing Nicholas with Vivian’s picture.

She was once his wife, I thought as much trying to comfort myself. I guess I quickly forgot I was just a surrogate.

And lately, the silence between us has been growing for days, but today it feels like a living, breathing thing in the house. Thick and suffocating.

It wraps around every corner, glued to every wall, and follows me from room to room like a shadow I can’t run ...