Avery POV
The second we stepped through the front door, I knew peace wasn’t going to last long.
Janet and Dante were already in the foyer, shedding their coats and dusting off the cold from whatever far-off place Kieran had been hiding. Janet’s eyes were red-rimmed, her mascara smudged faintly beneath her lashes. Her expression was hollow ... the kind of emptiness only a mother could wear after seeing a child she barely recognized anymore. Dante’s arm was wrapped protectively around her shoulders, his voice low and meant to soothe, but his face… his face was set in stone.
He looked up the moment he spotted us. Correction—he looked up the moment he saw Aidan.
His jaw twitched, his mouth tight. “I hope you’re satisfied,” Dante said, bitterness threading through every syllable. “You’ve su
