The bedroom was filled with the heavy silence of an ending.
Open suitcases lay on the bed, and the colorful clothes Lori had brought with her were being tucked away into dark fabric.
Lori had received an urgent call from her office in LA, a crisis that only she could handle.
Anastasia smoothed out a silk blouse, her movements slow. "I don't know how I'm going to do this without you, Lori," she whispered.
"The house feels too big already."
Lori stopped packing and pulled Anastasia into a tight hug.
"You are stronger than you think, Stasia. And I'm only a flight away. Besides, Dylan is here to play sweet bodyguard, and as much as I hate to admit, the mafia fake husband of yours is very protective."
Anastasia leaned into the hug, feeling a tear slip down her cheek. Lori had filled a massive void in her life over the last few weeks, providing a sense of normalcy and sisterhood that Matteo's world had almost crushed out of her.
