Chapter 214

• Olivia's pov
• I kept telling myself to breathe. To keep steady. To not let my mother’s tears crack me open when Claire was already drowning in her own storm.
• Father’s voice had been shaking, trying to explain, trying to soothe Claire with half-remembered childhood stories, but Claire’s sobs had only grown louder. I wanted so badly to reach out to her, to hold her the way I did when we were little—before life tore us apart—but I couldn’t. Not now. Not while she looked at us like strangers.