CHAPTER 261
KATYA POV
—Next day—
Light filtered through the curtains in thin, golden lines, warming my face before my mind fully caught up. I woke slowly, my eyes fluttering open, lashes heavy with sleep.
For a moment, I didn't move. I didn't even breathe deeply. I stayed very still, as if the wrong movement might summon something unwelcome, listening with a careful attention I'd learned long ago.
No knock.
No sharp footsteps outside the door.
No tension waiting to snap.
Only birds. Distant and soft. And the faint hush of a house that was already awake but not demanding anything from me.
That alone felt strange—almost unreal. My eyes opened properly, adjusting to the unfamiliar ceiling. Dark. Clean. Too elegant to be accidental.
It took a few seconds for memory to settle back into place—the room, the dinner, Nonna's steady voice, Chiara's grin that had refused to let me disappear into myself.
Italy.
I was here. And nothing bad had happened yet.
