Chapter 21

• Aurélie POV
• Later that evening, after we had devoured our takeaway pizza and bathed the children, the house finally settled into the kind of silence that only came once they were asleep. Their soft breathing echoed faintly from down the hallway, and for a moment I allowed the quiet to steady me.
• I sat at my office desk, fingers resting on the edge of my phone, preparing myself for the call I had been dreading since dinner. The call that had been needling at the back of my mind, refusing to let me relax.