The door clicked softly behind Isabelle as she stepped into the house.
Silence swallowed her.
No laughter. No tiny footsteps. No clanging dishes or music from Sophia’s speaker in the kitchen. The twins were out with the nanny, tucked away for a sleepover in Sophia's new apartment after she had offered without knowing how much Isabelle would need it.
The stillness wrapped around her like a too-heavy coat—comforting, suffocating, inescapable.
She didn’t make it to the bedroom. She didn’t even make it out of her coat.
Her purse slid off her shoulder and landed on the console with a dull thud. Her heels clattered to the floor a second later. And then she dropped.
Onto the couch.
Onto the truth.
Her hands trembled as they pressed against her face, her chest tightening like it might cave
