He lowered his gaze, eyes fixed on the floor, as if the words themselves had anchored him there.
“That incident shattered her. She was in a coma for a month, and when she woke… her mind had snapped. She was haunted by that night—screaming, hurting herself, even attempting to take her own life. Eventually, they placed her in a mental institution.”
Then he looked up at Maya, her face pale, eyes glistening, tears threatening to fall.
“I never loved her the way she wanted me to, but I still cared for her, Maya—as a brother, as a friend. We grew up together. I watched her grow from a child into a woman. What happened to her… it affected me too. I felt for her, for what she’d become. So… almost every day, Nick and I would visit her, check on her, make sure she was surviving… make sure someone
