Chapter 23 Separating Shadows

Ava's POV
As the woman stood before us, her comments remained hanging in the room like a storm cloud just ready to break. Tension permeated the space. She brought my kids with her. That basic truth grabbed me more powerfully than anything I had ever experienced. My breath seized in my throat, my heart racing as my head whirled with questions, worries, and the urgent need to act.
Jackson stood next to me, every muscle in his body coiled, his eyes flashing with a rage I had only seen a few times before. His tightly closed jaw made me believe he may snap. But it was the same anxiety that was wriggling inside me, not only resentment boiling under the surface. Both of us were parents, worried about our kids.