Too still.
The silence didn’t feel like freedom.
It felt like limbo.
Like the storm had stepped outside to catch its breath—and would come back hungrier.
I stood there for a moment, fists clenched at my sides, trying not to let the weight of it all crush me.
The smell of coffee still lingered in the kitchen, clinging to the walls like memory. Sunlight spilled across the floors, soft and golden, like it didn’t know what kind of house it was trying to warm.
And I hated it.
I hated how loud the silence felt without him.
How the walls didn’t hum with threat, how the floor didn’t creak under the weight of his shadow.
How my skin didn’t buzz with fury and heat and confusion.
You’re sick, I told myself. You should be relieved.
Instead, I felt… unmoored.
Worse than trapped—adrift.
I grabbed my phone off the counter like a lifeline.
It lit up like a firestorm—missed calls, unread texts, notifications from social media?—
And at the top of it all?
BREAKING: Castle Rock’s Hades Sinclair MARRIED in private ceremony. Who is Persephone King?
My stomach dropped.
The blood drained from my face, rushing to the space behind my eyes. I scrolled and scrolled; the headlines stacking up like bricks in a prison I hadn’t even noticed being built.
Photos of me. Of us.
Paparazzi shots. Screenshots from forums. Speculation. Gossip. Brutal captions.
#PoorPersephone
#HockeyHadesWife
#SinclairSins
I opened my messages—Callista.
Nothing.
Voicemail. Straight to dead air.
I tried again.
And again.
Still nothing.
