urning as if I had just surfaced from

, clawing at skin that sho

eamed throug

ght. Viole

bs, a frantic bird battering it

d the room, my

e of pill

dy shirt

tangling in the sweat-damp shee

om

t me like a

the doorframe so hard the

ed that it was a hallucination,

rway of his room, rubb

g his blue di

ol

iv

rok

ked out, falli

g around my neck. "You were screamin

nhaling the scent of baby shampoo an

n't a

s a m

rizing every inch of his face, making

phone from th

15

he letter

our son's life for

e, the numbers burn

crushed me second

ust fade; i

to something sharp

nary in the coa

ad tasted the barrel

of the tremble that had defined my existence for year

nstairs, his footsteps light and

too

or and looked at the

he tragedy that hadn't happened

e Tom kept

bout the

t the fake

my previous life, he had g

ht I was

ght I w

arn just how much

mber that no wife in the Organizatio

cked open af

office," a gruf

the name tasting like ash and ir

ith implication. "Mrs. Bar

the air like a scalpel. "Misappropriation of Family funds. Viola

retched on

s a death sentence

wasn't

said, the tone shifting fr

said. "Tell Ramirez to clear his

ung

oset and pulled

bought for Danny's fu

wear it to bu