Ava’s POV
Before I could react, Jasper shoved the slice toward my mouth.
I caught his wrist mid-air. “You’ve never once called me Mom,” I said under my breath. “What kind of son does that make you?”
It detonated him.
“She hasn’t called you either!” He jabbed a finger at Maria. “Why do you—”
He stopped. Maria had already wrapped her arms around me.
She looked up. “Mom.”
The room went still. Warmth flooded my chest before I could brace against it, and I realized I’d pulled her closer without deciding to.
Across from us, Jasper went red.
“Let go!” He lunged, grabbing for her shoulder. “Who said you could call her that? Don’t you have your own—”
Maria’s face crumpled before he finished. The tears came fast and silent, the kind a child cries when she’s learned not to make noise about
