Chapter 197

　　Fern's Perspective 　　The day's work was finally over. Night had fallen, and the city's lights began to twinkle to life. I stood by the window of my office, watching the hurried figures below, but a heaviness settled in my heart. Though everything had seemed calm during the day, I knew this calm was nothing more than the quiet before the storm. Giovanni's growing interest in me, that nagging sense of familiarity, had become more pronounced. It unsettled me, amplifying the dilemma I couldn't escape. 　　I couldn't let him get close so easily, not when I had buried the past so deep in my heart. That painful memory had cost me far more than I ever expected. I had thought I'd be free of him, that I'd never again be haunted by what we once were. But now, standing before him once again, it felt like everything had come full circle. That indescribable pull, always tethering me to the past, was still there, and I couldn't escape it. 　　"Diana, what's wrong?" Marianne's voice snapped me back to r