Chapter 177

SEBASTIAN

“Have you seen what’s inside this envelope?”

The question landed like a blow to my chest.

Kenna’s fingers trembled around the brown paper, her knuckles pale, eyes fixed on mine with an urgency that made my skin prickle. She looked scared… but not the frantic kind.

This was the kind of fear that came with knowing something had already changed.

“What is it?”

“Where did you get that?” Diego’s question came first, before mine.

She swallowed. “From the things Dahlia sent over. I miss her so much; I just wanted to go through her stuff…perceive her smell, you know.” Her eyes flicked to Diego, then back to me. “Seb… did you ever open this?”

The way she said it… this… told me everything.

I didn’t answer. I stepped forward and took the envelope from her hands, sharper than I intended. Kenna let go immediately, like she’d been waiting for that moment to pass the weight to someone else.

“No,” I said finally. “I didn’t.”