Chapter 162

DAHLIA

The words slip out of me before I can stop them.

“What the fuck?”

They break apart like teenagers caught by a parent. Izzy jerks back first, eyes wide, lips swollen, color draining from her face. Jack freezes for half a second longer, like his brain is still trying to process how I’m standing here… how I exist at all.

No one speaks.

The silence is loud. Familiar. Tonight seems obsessed with silence.

I shut the door behind me with more force than necessary.

“So,” I say, my voice trembling despite my effort to keep it steady. “This is what I come home to.”

Izzy opens her mouth. Closes it. Opens it again. “Dahlia, I…”

“How long?” I cut in.

Jack runs a hand through his hair. “Dahl…”

“How. Long.” I snap, laying emphasis on each word.

I know I’m transferring aggression, but the realization won’t stop me from doing it. Something or someone needs to take the blow for what I’m feeling right now. They made themselv