The Cross Family
“You’ve been remarkable through all this, dear. Truly.”
Sloane looked demure under the praise, a trick she wore like a diamond. “I only want to support the family,” she said, and let her hand rest lightly against Damon’s wrist, a small anchor that told the room: this is steady, this is fine.
He should have felt reassured. Instead a dull ache pulsed behind his eyes, the kind that signals either a storm or a confession. He glanced at the TV and caught the final half-second of a replay—the crimson flash of a dress and a suitcase wheel bumping over the threshold. The camera had zoomed slightly this time. You could see Mya’s face if you looked very closely. Not tears, not triumph. Something scari