Viktor Holt
My jaw tightened. Something was wrong. Jessica had changed, and it was obvious. The woman I married would never have spoken to me the way she did today, nor would she have dared slap my mother. I didn’t know what had caused this shift, but I knew one thing—this was not the Jessica I had known.
I grabbed my phone, desperate for something to occupy my mind, to push away the gnawing frustration. When I unlocked the screen, I saw Anna’s smiling face. For a moment, I froze. She had been gone for years, yet it still felt like she was right there with me. Her touch, her smile... everything. A familiar ache spread through me, but I shook it off. It wasn’t the time to dwell on the past.
I had more pressing matters to attend to.
Susanne’s voice snapped me back to reality. She hobbled in, leaning on crutches, a cast on her foot. When I found her earlier, she was lying on the cold floor, hurt. She had slipped while cleaning.
“Are you okay?” I asked, my tone neutral.
“I’m fine, Vi
