My chest tightened.
Ella pulled back just enough to look at me, her eyes searching my face in a way that didn’t belong to a child, in a way that reminded me too much of Aria.
And then—
“Where’s Mommy?”
And there it was, the one question I had been dreading since I stepped back onto this territory, the one thing no amount of strength or violence or control could prepare me for, because this wasn’t something I could fight or tear apart or fix with blood.
For a second—just a second—I couldn’t breathe.
Fuck.
I forced air into my lungs slowly, carefully, like if I rushed it I would break something, and tightened my hold on both of them, pulling them closer, pressing them against me like I could shield them from what I was about to say.
“Mommy is…” my voice caught for a fraction of a sec
