CHAPTER 1 — THE MOMENT THE WORLD CRACKED
The ER doors didn’t just open.
They exploded.
I stood there barefoot, blood still drying on my wrist, holding Violet against my chest like the world had finally remembered she existed.
Her cry was weak. But it was real.
And that was enough to make the entire hospital freeze.
Garrett turned first.
His face went pale in a way I had never seen before. Not grief. Not shock.
Recognition.
Behind me, Quincy clutched my sleeve like he was afraid the truth might collapse if he let go.
“She’s alive,” I said, my voice breaking. “You told me she was gone.”
No one answered.
Not Garrett.
Not Naomi.
Not the doctor who had signed the death report ten minutes earlier.
Only silence.
May you like
The kind that doesn’t come from shock.
The kind that comes from guilt.
