Chapter 73. Earing

Rae:

“No.”

It slips from me before I can think.

“No.”

Louder now. Sharper.

“No, no, no—no no no—”

My voice shakes. My skin goes cold.

“That can’t be,” I breathe. “That’s… you’re saying…”

He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t soften the blow.

“I found it on the floor,” he says. “Under the bed. Near the blood. I kept it. For thirty years. Waiting to find who it belonged to.”

His voice drops.

Thickens.

“And now—I know.”

And just like that—

everything inside me shatters.

My knees buckle and I drop onto the couch like a puppet with cut strings. I can't sit straight. I slump forward, my arms curled around myself like I’m trying to hold the pieces in.

But they’re already falling.

My throat tightens. My lungs ache. The air around me thickens like molasses, impossible to breathe.

I’m not crying.

I want to cry.

But my eyes won’t move. My chest is locked. My hands—

They w