Belle's POV
I was pacing again. The steady rhythm of my heels against the hardwood had filled the living room for the past half hour, a nervous noise I couldn't silence. The house was quiet too quiet, almost suffocating.
Jasper was out at yet another late meeting with his lawyers, leaving me alone to wrestle with my own thoughts. He had left earlier in the afternoon, his jaw tight, his eyes shadowed with exhaustion. I hadn't tried to stop him. What could I have said? He was fighting for his company, for everything he had built, and I was left fighting the silence that swallowed me whole whenever he wasn't here.
I tried distracting myself. I had opened my laptop, but the words on the screen blurred, lines of contracts and email threads that meant nothing right now. I had tried making tea, but the cup sat untouched on the coffee table, steam long gone. My hands kept trembling whenever I reached for it.
Tonight wasn't ordinary. Tonight I was waiting.
