“I’m sorry,” I said.
Her eyes opened again.
“I don’t need you to be sorry tonight, David. I need to know Liam and I are safe.”
“You are.”
“From them?”
The answer should have been immediate.
It wasn’t.
Not because I wanted my mother or sister near Maya again, but because I suddenly understood that canceling their cards was the easiest part. The harder part would be accepting what they had done without softening it, explaining it away, or turning Maya’s suffering into another family disagreement everyone would be expected to move past.
“Yes,” I said at last. “From them too.”
Maya watched me for several seconds, as though measuring whether the promise could bear weight.
Then she nodded.
At 2:17 in the morning, my mother called.
I let the phone ring until it stopped.
A minute later, Chloe called.
