EMMA'S POV
The next morning, I woke slowly, not because I was tired, but because my mind wasn't used to waking up without fear for company. For years, morning had meant bracing myself for noise, for tension, for the possibility that something—anything—could set off another argument. But the new apartment felt like a different universe. When my eyes blinked open, I wasn't greeted by cramped walls or stale air. I was greeted by sunlight—warm, wide, generous—streaming through those enormous windows Damian insisted were "non-negotiable for an architect."
