“Here, Mom. Eat.” Anna pressed the spoon against her mother’s lips.
Elena’s torture had been a calculated sacrifice; she had been willing to let her body be broken just to keep her child away from a man whose mother she loathed above all else. But in this room, the tension was a different kind of pain.
“Take it away, Anna,” Stella snapped, her voice sharp with annoyance. “I told you, I’m not hungry.”
Anna didn't flinch. She didn't even blink. She simply waited for a gap and forced the soup into her mother’s mouth.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Stella sputtered, the warm liquid sliding down her throat against her will.
“Stop being stubborn and take your medicine,” Anna said flatly. she set the bowl aside with a hollow clink.
Stella watched her daughter, a cold knot of dread tightening in
