The kitchen still smells of burnt coffee when Zion takes Claire to school. I stand at the window, watching the car disappear around the curve in the road, my heart tight in a way I can’t quite name. When I turn around, Declan is leaning against the counter with his arms crossed, jaw locked the way it always is when he’s holding a war inside himself. Harvey sits at the table, far too calm, as if the world hadn’t been turned upside down in the last few hours.“She’s gone,” I say, my voice low. “Now we need to talk for real.”Declan lets out a short, tired breath through his nose.“Let’s do it. Before I change my mind.”I sit between the two of them, feeling the weight of every glance. Harvey doesn’t try to touch me. Declan doesn’t either. The space between the three of us is something alive, dangerous, full of things none of us yet know how to name.“If we’re going to do this,” Declan begins, his voice rough from a night spent swallowing pride, “we’re going to do it right. For her. Clai
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