To anyone passing by, it looked like a dream, but inside that house it felt closer to a grave filled with silence that had grown heavy over the years.
It was not the peaceful kind of silence that comforts people, but the kind that builds when too many truths are ignored for far too long.
Christopher Ravenshire had everything a man could want, including wealth, influence, and a reputation that made people lower their voices when he entered a room.
What he no longer had was his wife, because she died the day their son was born, and the doctors called it a complication while Christopher quietly called it the moment his life ended.
Every time he looked at his newborn son, Noah, he saw her face staring back at him, and the resemblance felt less like a blessing and more like a wound that refused to close.
So he chose the only escape he knew, which was burying himself in work until the days blurred together and the house slowly became a place he avoided emotionally.
When doctors later told him that Noah had severe hearing loss, he did not question the diagnosis or ask for further explanations.