Elodie's POV~
That day, I forced myself not to think about Dante and Sienna. Pretending not to care had become a survival skill, though my chest still felt like it carried a weight I couldn't set down. I stayed buried in work until almost nine, staring at spreadsheets long after the words blurred.
When my phone buzzed, I almost didn't answer. It was Cara, my best friend. Her voice was slurred, words tumbling over one another. She was drunk. She needed me.
I shoved the files into a neat pile, grabbed my keys, and drove. The city lights blurred past the windshield, mocking me with how alive everything seemed while I felt half-dead inside.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the restaurant's lot. Just as I was heading toward the entrance, I saw her.
A little girl, small frame, dark hair
