Chapter 138 A Knock in the Silence
chapter one hundred and thirty eight
Valenticia’s POV
I stood in front of the mirror in my bedroom and stared at the woman looking back at me.
For a long moment, I did not move.
My hair fell loosely around my shoulders, slightly messy because I had not bothered fixing it that morning. My eyes looked tired, and faint shadows had formed beneath them over the past few days. At first glance my face looked calm, but the longer I studied my reflection, the easier it became to see the strain hiding underneath.
Everything in my life had changed so quickly.
Just weeks earlier, my biggest problem had been the complicated feelings between Stefan and Dimitri. That situation alone had already felt exhausting and confusing.
Now everything felt heavier.
Now everything felt like it was pressing down on me from all directions.
Nona was gone.
Even thinking those words made my chest tighten painfully.
The house still felt strange without her presence. Sometimes I expected to hear her voice calling my name from the living room. Sometimes I walked past her favorite chair and paused without thinking, almost expecting to see her sitting there with her knitting basket resting on her lap.
But the chair had been empty for days.
And the silence in the house had become something I could not escape.
My eyes slowly moved over my reflection again before stopping on my left hand.
The engagement ring caught the light.
Lucas Ryder’s ring.
I lifted my hand slowly and stared at it.
The diamond was large and brilliant. Anyone who saw it would immediately recognize how expensive it was.
But right now the ring felt heavier than it should have.
“I still can’t believe I did this,” I murmured quietly.
My voice sounded small inside the room.
I lowered my hand and exhaled slowly.
Everything had happened so quickly. One moment my life had been collapsing around me, and the next moment I had signed a contract that tied my future to a man I barely knew.
Lucas had been calm when I signed the papers. Calm and confident, as if he had already predicted the outcome.
And maybe he had.
Because everything he said would happen had unfolded exactly the way he described.
The moment the engagement became public, the media changed direction. The headlines stopped focusing only on Natasha’s lawsuit and Stefan’s ruined wedding.
Instead, the news began talking about the sudden alliance between Lucas Ryder and Valenticia Dykstra.
Investors who had been preparing to withdraw from my company suddenly became quiet.
The board stopped threatening to remove me. The company slowly began stabilizing again.
Lucas had been right.
But that did not mean my heart felt peaceful. I leaned both hands against the dresser and lowered my head slightly.
“Nona…” I whispered and my throat tightened.
If she were here right now, she would probably sit behind me and brush my hair gently the way she used to when I was younger.
She would listen to everything I had to say without interrupting.
And then she would give advice that sounded simple but somehow always helped me see things clearly.
I closed my eyes.
“What would you say to me now?” I asked softly.
In my mind I could almost hear her voice. Not clearly. Just the memory of it.
I imagined her standing behind me with that calm, patient smile she always had.
Life would always test the heart. That was something she used to say often.
I wiped the corner of my eye quickly before a tear could fall.
“No crying,” I muttered to myself.
My voice sounded weak even to my own ears.
I straightened my back and took a slow breath.
“You already made the decision,” I told myself quietly. “Now you just have to live with it.”
The room stayed silent around me.
Then suddenly I heard a knock. My head turned toward the bedroom door immediately and I frowned slightly.
A few seconds later another knock sounded.
Then another.
I stayed still for a moment, staring toward the door.
Paparazzi.
That was the first thought that came to my mind.
Since the engagement announcement, reporters and photographers had been appearing outside the house almost every day. Some of them waited by the gate for hours. Some of them shouted questions whenever they saw a car leaving the property.
Yesterday had been the worst.
One reporter somehow managed to slip past the gate before security caught him. He reached the front door and started knocking loudly while shouting questions.
“Miss Dykstra! Is the engagement real?”
“Are you marrying Lucas Ryder for business reasons?”
“Did Stefan force you into this decision?”
I had stayed inside the house and ignored him until security finally forced him to leave.
Remembering it made my head ache again.
So when I heard the knocking today, my first instinct was to ignore it.
“They’ll leave eventually,” I muttered.
But the silence that followed felt different.
The knock earlier had not sounded aggressive. It had sounded calm.
Almost careful.
That realization made me pause and my brows slowly drew together.
“That’s strange,” I murmured quietly.
For a moment I stood there thinking. Then curiosity won. I left the bedroom and walked slowly down the hallway toward the stairs.
The house felt unusually quiet as I moved through it.
When I reached the front door, I stopped for a moment and listened.
No voices.
No shouting.
Just silence.
That made my confusion grow stronger. Slowly, I unlocked the door and opened it slightly.
But when I looked outside, the front steps were empty.
There was no reporter.
No photographer.
No one standing at the gate.
The driveway was completely quiet.
I stepped outside and looked around once more just to be sure.
Still nothing.
A small crease formed between my brows.
“That’s odd,” I murmured.
After another moment I stepped back inside and closed the door again.
Maybe someone had knocked and left.
Or maybe I had imagined the sound.
Either way, I locked the door and walked back toward the living room.
My body felt tired.
Emotionally tired.
I sank down onto the sofa and leaned my head back against the cushion.
The silence of the house wrapped around me again.
For a few seconds I closed my eyes and tried to relax.
But then my phone suddenly rang.
The sharp sound made my eyes open immediately.
I reached for the phone on the table beside me and glanced at the screen.
My stomach tightened slightly.
Lucas Ryder.
I stared at his name for a moment before answering the call.
“Hello?” I said.
His voice came through the phone calm and steady.
“Valenticia.”
“Yes?” I replied.
A small crease appeared between my brows.
“What is it?”
There was a brief pause on the line. Then he spoke again.
My body straightened slightly.
His next words made my heart skip and my fingers tightened around the phone.
“What happened?”
Lucas spoke and breath caught.
“What?”
My mind struggled to process what he was saying.
“Wait,” I said quickly.
There was another short pause. Then Lucas answered and my entire body froze.
“What did you just say?”