Сhapter 177

Eric POV

The sunlight slanted through the sheer curtains, turning the edges of my room gold. I lay sprawled across my bed in a tangle of silk sheets, shirtless, one leg tossed over the edge and the other buried under the weight of a half-folded blanket. My sketchpad rested near my hip, open to a charcoal drawing I barely remembered working on, a pair of hands nearly touching, but never quite.

I sighed, rolling onto my back. For the first time in weeks, the estate felt still and quiet. No anonymous messages. No stolen glances across council rooms. Just silence, and the soft rustle of wind brushing against the high windowpanes.

Then the door slammed open.

“Eric.”

I jolted upright, sheets flying. “Mother?”

She strode into the room like she owned ever