Silent Scars

CHAPTER 12

LUCA HASTINGS

Luca hadn't slept. Not really. His mind had refused to shut down, plagued by the same thoughts that had consumed him the night before. He couldn't stop thinking about Aria. Her silence. Her fear. The way she wouldn't meet anyone's eyes, as though afraid of what they might see if she did. It gnawed at him.

Sitting at his desk, the soft scratch of his pencil on paper was the only thing that grounded him. He tried to focus on the drawing in front of him, half-finished faces, lines too harsh to be considered art, but every stroke of his pencil felt like an echo of Aria. He couldn't shake the image of her, her expression so distant, as if she were trapped in a world of her own.

The sketches blurred together as his thoughts drifted. He didn't know how to help her. He wanted to reach out, to figure out what was wrong, but something inside him told him that whatever was troubling her ran far deeper than he could imagine.

Luca sighed, dropping his pencil. The drawing was unfinished, and so was his understanding of her. All night he had tossed and turned, but sleep had eluded him, and now, with the sun rising, he could only wonder what was happening inside her mind.

MARCUS HASTINGS

Marcus stared up at the ceiling, the faint glow of the streetlight outside casting a soft illumination across the room. His mind wouldn't be quiet. It had been hours since dinner, and the unsettling silence of Ariana had lingered in his thoughts like an unanswered question.

He had watched her throughout the meal, the way she'd picked at her food, her hands trembling just enough for him to notice. And then, the silence. The absence of her voice, her lack of any verbal response, gnawed at him.

His mind kept circling back to it : What if she's lying? What if she was faking it, pretending not to speak to get attention or manipulate them?

That thought felt like a betrayal. But even so, it was a nagging suspicion he couldn't shake off.

Could she be hiding something, using her silence as a shield?

He rolled over in bed, his fist clenching the pillow beneath him, but sleep wouldn't come. The night stretched on, long and heavy, as his thoughts ran in circles.

KENDRIC HASTINGS

Kendric lay awake in the dark, his body sprawled across the bed, but his mind racing. The clock on his nightstand ticked loudly in the silence, and every second felt like it dragged on forever. He couldn't stop thinking about Aria.

Kendric had tried to talk to her last night. He had caught her gaze, but there had been nothing, no acknowledgment, no sign that she recognized he was there. She was a puzzle that didn't make sense, and no matter how much he wanted to help, he didn't know where to start.

He couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right.

Why wouldn't ahe even look at me?

Kendric sighed, a deep, frustrated exhale that seemed to echo in the quiet room. He wanted to help her, wanted to be there for her, but he felt completely out of his depth. There was so much he didn't know.

He fell into a restless sleep, still unsure of what to do, still unsure of what Ariana really needed from him.

LEONARDO HASTINGS

Leonardo's night had been more restless than usual. It wasn't just the usual stress of overseeing the family business. It was something else. Ariana.

His mind had kept circling back to her, the way she had avoided eye contact, how she hadn't spoken a word the entire evening, the way she clutched herself as if trying to shrink away from the world. There was something about her that felt....off.

He had spent hours checking his phone, answering urgent calls, and reviewing his company's financial reports, all while his thoughts kept returning to her. No matter how many tasks he tackled, no matter how many emails he answered, he couldn't escape the nagging feeling that something wasn't right with her.

He wasn't ready to trust her. Not yet.

Leonardo rubbed his temples, frustration building. He had seen a lot in his time, people pretending, hiding, using lies to cover up the truth. But this? This wasn't a normal kind of silence. She wasn't just being quiet. It was as if something had stolen her voice, something far worse than just shyness.

Had she been broken? Had she been hurt?

He had to know more. He couldn't just let this go, couldn't just pretend everything was fine when something felt so wrong. But at the same time, he wasn't sure if he could trust her.

She was a stranger to him, a stranger with a family connection, but someone who could have an agenda. His own family had been betrayed too many times for him to throw caution to the wind.

But if there was one thing he knew, it was that he couldn't just ignore her.