“Every smile and every gesture from her was a knife to his heart, each one cutting deeper than the last, yet no matter how much it hurt, he couldn’t tear his eyes away.”
The car hummed softly as it glided through the city streets, but inside, the atmosphere was anything but smooth. Hunter gripped the car seat with an intensity that matched his growing frustration. To his right, after Mara, sat Carla slouched against the headrest, dark sunglasses hiding the bags under her eyes. Her brow was knitted as she cradled her head with one hand—hungover, again.
Hunter’s jaw clenched as he glanced at her, disgust simmering inside him. She hadn’t made it home until near dawn, dead drunk, leaving Mara with the caretaker, who was about to leave. What kind of mother leaves her child alone like that? Th
