Charlotte’s POV
I wanted to tell Nora the truth.
We weren’t a “real” family. Not now, not ever. No matter how much she wanted it, it was never happening, and especially not now.
Her father had just marked me without my permission, binding me to him for reasons I never had a say in. It was unfair, and it made me feel small and helpless and not entirely different from the way I had felt with Jason. Like I had no real agency in my life and had to accept whatever he threw my way.
But as I looked into those big, hopeful eyes, and as I saw her little hands clasped together and I heard her sweet voice for the first time all day, I just… couldn’t.
Nora hadn’t said a word all day. She’d been mute and somber, nothing at all like the happy, talkative little girl she’d been for wee
