Nora’s POV
The smell of fresh coffee filled the kitchen, mixing with the scent of atomizers present in the sitting room. I stood at the stove, stirring the pot of grits that was simmering away. It was early—still too early for anyone else to be awake, except for Kiana. She was always an early riser, which was probably the only thing I could ever appreciate about her. In a house full of people, she was the one who made the effort to hold things together.
I was still seething from the night before. The conversation with Mason had been nothing short of a disaster, and I knew that Kiana had heard bits and pieces of it. As much as I hated to admit it, she had a way of inserting herself into everything. She couldn’t seem to stay out of the line of fire. And she didn’t belong here—not with Maso
