Chapter 5 The Quiet Hurts Louder Than His Voice

He left that morning.

No goodbye. No glance.

Just the sound of the front door closing and the low hum of an engine driving away.

The silence after him wasn't empty.

It was thick.

Like the walls were listening now that he was gone.

I didn't know what to do with myself.

Sit? Sleep? Count the hours until he came back and stared through me again?

Instead, I wandered.

The house wasn't just cold. It was too clean. Like no one ever lived here, not really.

Rooms with nothing personal. Closets with no color. Art on the walls that looked expensive but said nothing.

Even the windows were high and narrow. Like they weren't meant to let light in.

Just to keep eyes out.

And me in.

I found a room near the back. It looked like a sitting room, but with no TV. Just books and low furniture.

There was a piano in the corner.

I didn't mean to touch it.

But my fingers brushed the keys anyway.

One note. Soft. Then another.

Then silence again.

The sound felt like something breaking open in my chest.

I used to play. Before everything. Before life became about survival.

A small ache bloomed behind my ribs.

"Do you play?"

The voice came from the doorway. A low male voice-not Dominic's.

I turned sharply, heartbeat kicking up.

A man stood there. Mid-thirties maybe. Dark hair. Kind eyes. A black button-down, rolled sleeves. Hands tucked into his pockets.

He smiled gently when he saw my panic.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he said. "I'm Matteo."

I didn't speak.

He stepped in, slow and careful. "Dominic's cousin. I come by sometimes when he's... otherwise occupied."

He glanced at the piano, then back at me. "You can play if you want. He won't mind."

I blinked. "I thought I wasn't allowed to go anywhere."

"You're not." He shrugged. "But he's not here."

He said it like it made perfect sense.

"Why are you being nice to me?" I asked.

Matteo's smile faded a little. "Because no one else is."

That... hit something.

"Do you know what he did?" I asked, softer. "Why I'm here?"

"I know what he thinks he's doing," Matteo said. "But Dominic doesn't always know the difference between justice and revenge."

That made my skin prickle.

"Did he tell you to say that?"

He laughed gently. "You think he tells anyone anything?"

He looked around, then leaned in a little. "But if you're smart, you'll survive him. Don't challenge him. Don't poke his past. Just keep breathing."

I swallowed hard.

"Did someone challenge him before?"

Matteo didn't answer at first. Then he said, "Someone he loved."

I looked down at my hands. They were shaking. Why?

Matteo turned to go, then paused at the door.

"He won't hit you. That's not his way. But he'll cut you with silence. He'll make you want the pain just to feel something."

He nodded at the piano. "Play something soft. He likes that."

And then he left.

I sat alone again.

But not the same.

Because now I knew someone else saw me. And someone else had survived him.

Even if they didn't escape.

So I pressed the keys again. This time slower.

One note. Then another. A melody barely there.

The sound curled into the silence like a secret.

I didn't know if it would save me.

But for a moment, it felt like I wasn't just a thing in his house.

I was a girl again.

A girl with hands. And music.

And maybe... maybe a piece of soul left.