Chapter 26

Jackson's POV

I did it again.

Said the wrong thing. Reacted the wrong way. And like always, the guilt came crashing down before the last word even finished echoing in the air.

Vera didn’t have to scream or break down for me to realize how badly I had messed up. I’ve been around her long enough now to know how she handles pain. Silence. A heavy, trembling silence that crushes everything in its path.

If she’s truly hurting, she won’t say a word. She won’t even blink wrong. She’ll just hold her breath like a fragile porcelain doll, scared that even breathing too hard might make the pain fall out through her eyes. That’s when I know she’s holding back tears.

Then there’s the nervous Vera, her fingers constantly stretching, curling, twitching like she’s trying to press her emotions back into place. Her eyes stay locked on her hands, as if all the answers she’s scared to voice out are written in her palms.

And of course, the most famili