22. SIN

Tears prickled my eyes as I stared down at the mess.

My clothes and the few things I owned had been removed from the cottage after they said it was save to enter. It all smelled like smoke, no matter how many times I washed it in the bathtub.

I leaned back and pressed a cold wet hand to my forehead. The pounding in my head just wouldn’t go away. I wasn’t sure whether it was related to the hot and cold flushes that had increased the moment we got home.

“What are you doing, sweet pea?” Michel asked, making my body jerk in fright.

My eyes snap up to his when he crouched next to me which was apparently a bad thing to do. Before I knew it, I was a sobbing mess.

He made a sound at the back of his throat and pulled me up with him as he stood. My legs automatically wrapped around his hips when he picked me up.

“Tell me what’s troubling you,” he muttered. “Let me fix it.”

“N-nobody can f-fix it,” I cried. “It’s all r-ruined.”

“What is?”

I pointed a finger at the clothes in the bathtub