CHAPTER 26
I hadn’t slept since Sebastian left.
I laid in the room I had grown up in, staring at the ceiling, counting the cracks that spread from the wooden beams like veins. My childhood bed felt too small now, like it couldn’t contain the weight of everything pressing down on my chest — the grief, confusion, anger, and above all, exhaustion.
The wind howled softly through the old maple tree just outside the window. The room smelled faintly of old lilac and rosemary— my mother’s favorite potpourri— and it grounded me, even though my heart was still a battlefield.
My hands instinctively curled over my swollen stomach, where my babies stirred quietly. Their presence was the only calm in the chaos, a pulsing reminder of why I was even here. Why I hadn’t gone back with Sebastian.
I was so deep in thought and the knock on the door was so soft I almost thought I imagined it.
“Alora?” came a voice, familiar and gentle, yet lined with tension. “May I come in?”
I froze. That voice… It was C
