The house felt wrong without Nova, too quiet and still. Every corner seemed to echo with her absence, like we’d carved out the heart of the place just to keep it beating a little longer.
I found myself drifting into her room before we started. Her stuffed animals lined the bed in a crooked parade, the doll she never slept without missing from the lineup because she’d clutched it to Frank’s house. The sight of it all twisted something sharp in my chest.
“We’re doing the right thing,” Noah said from the doorway, his voice low.
I nodded but didn’t answer. I didn’t trust my voice not to crack.
We cleared the dining table, sweeping the fragments of medical records into a neat stack and tucking them into a folder. That would stay locked in the house for now, carrying them into a trap was exa
