Chapter 112. Can't Let Go

Third-Person POV

The morning was cold. The kind of cold that got into your skin and made your whole body ache. Vanessa stepped outside, hugging herself tightly. Her slippers made soft crunching sounds on the wooden porch. She squinted as the weak morning sun tried to break through the cloudy sky.

Then she saw him.

Andre.

He was sitting on the top step. His elbows rested on his knees, and his face was hidden in his hands. His coat hung loosely on his shoulders, and there was a half-empty whiskey bottle by his foot. The air around him smelled like smoke and something worse—sadness, maybe.

Vanessa’s heart stopped for a second.

He was still there. He had stayed out all night. In the freezing cold.

"Andre?" she called softly, her voice shaky.

He didn’t move right away. Then slowly, as if every bone in his body ached, he lifted his head.

His eyes were bloodshot, his hair disheveled, and his face looked older—like he ha