Chapter 156 - Empty

Raymond

After Noah left, I was a shell of myself. The mansion had turned into a place of suffocating despair. I tried to hold it together for Neil’s sake, but the effort was exhausting. I worked from home, unable to bear the thought of walking into the office.

My reflection in the mirror was a ghost of its former self. My unshaved stubble and eyes heavy with sleepless nights, were nothing like the man I had been only a week ago. I was losing myself in the despair of losing the love of my life.

Every day, I replayed the events over and over, searching for some clarity. I wished I could explain to Noah that nothing significant happened with Clara.

But the more I replayed it, the more I doubted myself. Clara’s ‘accidental’ kiss—why hadn’t I pulled away sooner? And the incident at the tennis court, when Clara leaned into me, making me uncomfortable—why did I let it go that far? The night we spent on the couch, watching that movie, why didn’t I just go to bed?

Not only that, my belief in