Willow woke slowly to the unfamiliar softness of Victor's guest bed. The mattress held the body in a way that felt deliberate and expensive, dense beneath layers of immaculate linen that still carried the faint scent of clean cotton. Heavy curtains covered the tall windows and kept the early sunlight from flooding the room, allowing only a muted golden glow to seep around their edges. The light softened everything it touched, leaving the room suspended in a quiet half morning that felt distant from the world she had left behind.
For several minutes she remained still, staring at the ceiling while her body caught up with the fact that she had actually slept. The silence around her felt deep and complete. It was the first true quiet she had experienced in weeks. There were no footsteps in the hall outside the door, no doors slamming, no phone vibrating insistently with calls and messages demanding explanations she could not give. The absence of noise settled around her like a cocoon.
