The news of twins did not simply shake Lena—it fractured the fragile sense of balance she had been desperately trying to maintain ever since her world imploded.
At first, there had been disbelief, then awe, then a strange, fleeting moment of joy that felt almost forbidden, but once the novelty wore off and reality settled in, panic crept into her bones with a slow, merciless precision.
One baby had already felt overwhelming, terrifying even, but two? Two felt crippling, like standing at the edge of a cliff and being asked to jump without a parachute, without a safety net, without even knowing how deep the fall would be.
She tried to reason with herself, pacing the small space of her apartment late into the night. Lana had promised—again and again—that she would help, that Lena wouldn’t
