I dug a dark pit in my mind and buried the feeling before it had the chance to grow.
Because whatever my body was trying to tell me…I'm sure It's wrong since Elias had already made himself perfectly clear.
And I wasn't about to stand here inventing hope where none existed.
I’d spent most of my life learning how to power through disappointment.
One more wouldn’t break me. My mother had seen to that.
She’d taught me how to smile after a slap.
How to thank someone for criticism dressed up as advice.
How to make myself smaller until no one remembered I was in the room.
Compared to those years…This was manageable.
I lifted my chin.“May I come in?”
“Of course,” Father answered immediately.
I stepped forward.
Elias was still standing in the doorway, leaving only a narrow gap between h
