Cassie stood there for a long moment after the shower, steam still clinging to her skin, the bathroom mirror fogged up like it was trying to hide her from herself, and she drew in a slow breath that did absolutely nothing to steady the storm rolling around in her chest.
With Franklin and Tristan gone for a while and everything that had happened with Scarlet's treatment hanging over all of them like some fragile glass ceiling that could shatter at any second, she honestly thought she would finally get a break, a quiet stretch of days where nobody demanded anything from her and she could just exist without feeling like the ground beneath her feet might give way.
She should have known better.
Franklin had other plans, demands, to put it straight, and the worst part was she could no
