“Yeah,” Zoe says, still avoiding my gaze. “I’ll be fine.”
They hug for a few seconds until Zoe pulls away.
“I have some clients to attend to this morning,” she says, hurriedly walking to the door. “I’ll call you later, okay?”
Maria nods, watching her leave. When she shuts the door behind her, Maria turns to me with a frown.
“Do we need to talk about something?”
I know what she wants to talk about. Seeing your father shirtless in his living room with your anxious best friend is breeding ground for serious conversation, but I’m not in the mood for that right now. I turn to walk back into the bedroom and Maria follows.
“Yes. Let’s talk about you applying for an exchange year even after I told you I don’t like it.”
She rolls her eyes. “Come on, Dad. It’s for a year.”
I lay on the bed, thinking it’s probably for the best that Maria leaves. I need time and space to hunt Zoe, and I can’t do that if Maria is hovering around. I’ll miss my daughter, but she’s a big girl.
“There’s no point arguing. It’s done, isn’t it?” I smile at her. “What do you need to make this transition smooth?”
Chapter Thirteen - Zoe
Weeks pass, and there’s nothing.
No texts. No flowers. No bodyguards lingering across the street, silently watching. It’s as if Lukin’s completely disappeared from my life, and for the first few days, I tell myself that this is good. Exactly what I wanted. I finally have my space, my life back, free from the chaos and the constant reminders of him.
At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.
But it doesn’t feel like freedom. It doesn’t feel like relief.
It feels like something is missing.
The silence in my apartment is louder than ever. It presses in on me, thick and heavy, as though the air around me has thickened, like I’m breathing underwater. I thought I’d be grateful for the break, for the calm, but all I can think about is how empty it feels.
I keep checking my phone without meaning to, my fingers hovering over the screen, waiting for a name that never appears. I glance at it every few minutes, hoping for a message, an update, some sort of sign that I’m not just fading into the background. But there’s nothing.
Not a word from him.
The lack of his presence—whether it was subtle or not—leaves a hollow space in my chest, one I didn’t expect. I’m trying to move on, trying to push it all away, but it’s harder than I thought. It’s like I’ve spent so much time avoiding him, avoiding this, that now the absence of it is suffocating.
I don’t even know why I care. I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t feel this empty, this restless. But it’s there. The gnawing, the wanting, the need for something that isn’t even there anymore.
I go through my days, trying to keep busy, focusing on my store, my designs, but the truth is—I miss the chaos he brought. I miss the fire, the tension, the way he made me feel alive in a way I didn’t know was possible. I can’t believe I’m admitting it, but I do.
I just don’t know what to do with it.
Every time I close my eyes, I see him. Every time I breathe, I feel his presence, like it’s always lingering just on the edge of my thoughts.
And I hate it. I hate that I can’t shake him, that he’s still there, even when he’s gone.
It’s even affected my appetite.
I can’t pinpoint when it started, but it has faded. Food tastes wrong now—bland, unsatisfying, like I’m eating to fill a space that nothing can reach. I try to eat, but the food sits heavy in my stomach, like it’s weighing me down, making every movement more laborious. I feel tired. All the time. Like my body is dragging me through the day, and no matter how much sleep I get, it’s never enough.
I tell myself it’s just stress. That I’m tired from working from the late nights in the store. But deep down, I know it’s more than that. I’ve been too on edge lately, too consumed by things I can’t control.
And then there’s Maria.
Since that morning at Lukin’s penthouse, things between us have shifted. There’s an unspoken distance now, one that hangs between us, heavy and palpable. We’ve barely spoken about what happened. She hasn’t asked me anything more aboutit, hasn’t pressed me for details, but the silence is worse than any question she could have asked.
