Chapter 56

• Chapter 56: Fracture
• The implication of everything he’s just said settles heavily in her chest, like a leaden stone dropped from the highest point of her heart. It’s a crushing weight, slow and suffocating, curling around her ribs until breathing feels like a chore. She stands frozen in the middle of the room, eyes wide and vacant, watching as he moves around the living room with the careless ease of someone who’s perfected the art of pretending she doesn’t exist. His silence is louder than any shout—sharp, cold, slicing through her resolve like a serrated blade. But even as pain claws at her from the inside out, her spine stiffens with new resolve, fingers clenching at her sides until her knuckles ache.
• No. Not this time.