POV: Olivia The night had the wrong kind of quiet. Not the hush after bedtime stories, not a house settling. Hollow—heat sucked from walls, breath from my chest—leaving the safehouse like a body missing organs. The front door sagged on splintered hinges. Safety glass glittered on gravel like false frost. Someone had straightened the porch light, as if neatness could hide violence. Barefoot—heels in hand, dress hitched—I stepped inside. Lemon cleaner. Cinnamon from Hope’s cookies. Beneath it: iron and fur. It should have smelled like crayons, wool, warm breath on a couch cushion. It smelled like absence. “Clear the entry,” Luther said behind me—flat, controlled, for his men, not for me. I kept walking. The den iced my bones. Hyden’s drum split clean, blade-straight. Daisy’s storms—pages scattered, clouds smeared to bruises by boot and paw. Lily’s boots crooked, laces snarled—her disorder was a scream. Rowan’s sweater was half-folded, sleeve dragged. Hope’s blanket is tor
Last Updated : 2025-09-27 Read more