No one spoke for a full five seconds after the call ended.
It did not feel like silence.
It felt like impact.
The kind that comes after glass breaks or a car skids or a sentence lands so hard your body understands it before your mind does.
My mother sat in the armchair like the air had been knocked out of her from the inside. One hand gripped the edge of the seat. The other still held her phone, though the screen had already gone black. Her face had lost all color.
I had seen my mother angry.
Cold.
Disappointed.
Sharp enough to cut through anyone who stood too close.
I had never seen her afraid like this.
That scared me more than Celeste’s voice had.
“Mom.”
Nothing.
I took two quick steps toward her. “Mom.”
Her eyes lifted to mine.
And whatever I saw there made something hot
