Chapter 348

• Mother stepped closer, close enough that I could smell the faint trace of the merlot still on her breath.
• She reached up and smoothed a tangled strand of hair off my forehead with surprising gentleness, the way she used to when I was small and screaming about nightmares.
• “Shhh. Stop spiraling for one second and think. You’ve already done this once, darling. Remember how easy it was? How quickly his blind faith in her started to fracture? Tell me… what was the magic trick you pulled back then? How were you able to make him not trust a word from Ayla’s mouth?”