Chapter 30

• The following morning, I woke up before Ethan did. The room was quiet, and I could hear the faint sounds of birds chirping outside the window as the sun began to rise. The early morning light streamed in through the cracks in the curtains, casting golden beams across the floor. I pushed the covers off and quietly got out of bed, careful not to wake Ethan. His breathing was slow and even—he was still sound asleep, and after everything we’d been through, he deserved the rest.
• I walked slowly downstairs, my bare feet making soft sounds against the hardwood floor. I headed straight to the kitchen, still wrapped in the silence of dawn. Once there, I filled a mug with hot coffee from the pot that had automatically brewed itself an hour earlier. I added a splash of cream and a spoonful of sugar before taking a seat at the large wooden dining table near the window.
• I sat down and cradled the warm mug in both hands, staring out the window as I sipped the bitter, comforting liquid. But I was careful not to look toward the area where my mother's body had been found. That place was etched too deeply in my mind, and I didn’t want to start my morning reliving that trauma. So I positioned myself so that I was facing the opposite direction, looking instead toward the woods and the distant hills shrouded in mist.