Alexis lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, her mind swirling with fragments of her mother’s story. It had been days now, and she hadn’t left her room not to eat, not to speak to anyone, not even to think clearly. The weight of her father’s death, the cold truth she had uncovered, was suffocating. Her chest felt tight, and every breath seemed harder than the last.
Her father. Her best friend. The man who had always been there for her, guiding her with warmth and wisdom. And now, to know that he hadn’t just died in an accident that he had been murdered, and his killer might still be out there, closer than she had ever imagined it tore at her soul.
Tears pooled in her eyes again, but she was too tired to cry. Too exhausted to release the emotion choking her. All she could feel was the c
