Silent Scars

CHAPTER 83

ARIANA HASTINGS

Today was the best day of my life.

That thought echoed in my head, again and again, like a whisper I wasn’t sure I was allowed to believe.

But it was true.

Today… was the best day of my life.

And that was something I never, ever thought I’d be able to say.

Not after everything.

Not after the years of being told that joy wasn’t meant for someone like me.

Not after surviving in silence for so long that I forgot what warmth felt like.

But right now, sitting with them, wrapped in layers of soft, fluffy blankets, legs tangled with Kendric’s and Luca’s, the scent of caramel popcorn still lingering in the air, and the echo of laughter slowly fading, I felt it.

Happiness.

The kind that didn’t come with guilt or fear.

The kind that didn’t feel borrowed.

It was ours.

Mine.

The movie had finished hours ago. The credits long forgotten. Yet none of us had moved, like we were holding onto this moment for as long as we could.

Leonardo’s phone had rung three times.

Each time it did, the others glanced at him. A look passed between them, familiar, quiet, a silent question.

Are you going to leave?

But he didn’t.

He let the phone ring out.

The third time, he reached over and flipped it face down, like it didn’t matter. And maybe it didn’t. Not tonight.

Because he stayed.

He stayed with us.

And that meant more to me than I could ever explain.

They were all talking now, Kendric, Luca, Domain, Marcus, and Leonardo, voices layered over one another in this warm chaos I’d never known before. They were laughing. Arguing about who used to steal snacks as a kid. Telling stories I couldn’t quite follow, names and places I didn’t know yet, but it didn’t matter.

I listened anyway.

Because for once, I didn’t feel like I was intruding.

I belonged here.

I was part of this.

Before I couldn’t stop myself from wondering, had they suffered too?

Leonardo always looked so cold, unreadable, like he’d built walls too high to climb. I used to think he didn’t feel. But maybe he just couldn’t show it. Maybe he was hurting all along, carrying something too heavy to speak of.

Marcus… he never spoke unless it was important. Always watching. Always quiet. But I’d seen the way he looked at me when he thought I wasn’t looking, like he carried blame in his chest, like guilt lived inside his silence.

And Domain… he wore his pain like armor. Loud and sharp and heavy. Sometimes I saw the fire behind his eyes, the kind that comes from surviving something that still haunts you.

Even Luca, sweet, gentle Luca, who always had a soft smile and kind words. What if that was his way of protecting everyone else? What if he gave all his light away so no one else would sit in the dark?