Chapter 57 (1)

Abigail

His words struck me like a slap to the face, leaving me momentarily stunned and trying to make sense of what he had just said.

It wasn’t the words themselves that unsettled me—it was the man saying them. My brother, Liam, who had once left a final exam early because of a single emergency text about our mother, only to find out I’d already sorted the issue before he even arrived at the hospital. That was the kind of man my brother was— always putting family first. For as long as I could remember, there was nothing more important to Liam than Mom’s well-being, and I knew that better than anyone.

So why was he suddenly acting like a press conference organized by Conrad mattered more than me wanting to see our mother? Over the woman who had worked herself to the bone to raise us?

I opened my mouth to ask him that very question, but before I could speak, my phone buzzed in my hand, startling me. I glanced down, gr