LUCIAN'S P.O.V.
I sat there, slumped in my leather chair, staring at the scattered documents on my desk without really seeing them. The stacks of contracts and reports that usually commanded my focus now felt meaningless, their words blurring into a fog. An emptiness pressed against my chest, so sharp it felt almost tangible. The only sound in the room was the steady, hollow ticking of the clock on the wall, each beat driving the ache deeper, like it was marking the distance between me and Teresa.
