The Weight of Last Night

~VALERIE’S POV~

I notice it immediately. The change.

The space. The agonizing silence.

Breakfast is usually tense, but today, it’s different. Donovan doesn’t throw any sharp remarks my way. Doesn’t send one of his unreadable glances across the table.

He doesn’t even look at me.

I linger at the dining room entrance, waiting for something—anything—but he just keeps eating, scrolling through his phon