Chapter 47. I Never Left

Night.

7pm.

All the workers had left now and it was just Anna and Lucien and Charles left in the beautifully furnished house.

Anna looked through the kitchen window and watched as Lucien talked with his assistant. She noticed Lucien coming back in and rushed up the stairs that led to her new room.

She got to the room and closed the door behind her quietly, the soft click echoing louder than it should have in the stillness of the apartment. She stood there for a moment, fingers grazing the doorknob, eyes shut.

She opened her eyes and stepped out of her shoes slowly, waiting for him to join her but he didn't. He thought she was still mad at him. The room was dim, lit only by the golden spill of a lamp in the corner, casting warm shadows that felt lonelier than the dark.

Her fingers trembled slightly, not from fear but from a slow, creeping ache that came from trying to love a man drenched in fire. She didn’t cry. But she didn’t smile either. Sh