Chapter 17

RAINA

I was discharged yesterday, but the hospital still felt like home—or at least more of one than my own house did lately. Since leaving, I’d been back almost every hour, staying by Liam’s side while the doctors ran test after test, desperate to find something that could explain everything. Nothing had surfaced yet, and the weight of that uncertainty sat heavy on my chest.

The evening felt quieter than usual as I slipped back into the house, feeling the familiar warmth in the walls that I knew I should find comforting. Ava had just been tucked in, and I’d asked Agatha, our housekeeper, to let me take over tonight. I hadn’t been around enough, and Ava deserved the time I had to give, I hadn’t been giving her much attention lately. I quietly made my way to her room and settled in beside her, brushing the stray curls off her forehead as I read her bedtime story to her. But instead of sleeping, she looked up at me with those wide, curious eyes.

“Mama,” she said soft