The sunlight was too soft for the kind of storm hanging over us. It spilled across the sheets in a golden haze, warm against my skin, but it only made the tension in Noah’s shoulders stand out sharper as he lay beside me.
Neither of us had really slept. I’d spent the night counting the ticks of the clock, every second reminding me: three days. That’s all I had before Vivienne followed through on her threat, before my mother was gone.
Noah’s eyes opened like he’d never been asleep. Watchful, alert.
“Morning,” he murmured.
I swallowed. “You didn’t sleep.”
“Neither did you.” His voice was low, worn thin by everything we hadn’t dared to say out loud.
For a second, I thought we’d fall back into silence, let it choke the air the way it had all night. But I couldn’t—not anymore. I reached f
