Chapter 118

Shock rippled through Emmeline. The pieces finally clicked into place, and she felt her heart clench with a profound sense of sorrow and empathy. “Oh God, Zavian... I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried like that.”

Tentatively, she reached up to stroke the arms folded across her shoulders in a gesture of comfort. “I was only thinking of myself. I didn’t even consider why you might have reacted like that.”

Zavian was adept at masking his grief, so his tone came out clipped and stoic. “Yuna went to pick her up from school that day, but she got distracted on a work call. My little girl wanted to cross the street to say goodbye to a friend...but she ended up saying goodbye to the entire world instead.” A muscle ticked in his jaw as he swallowed hard. “I still feel like her death was so unfair.”

His next words lanced straight through Emmeline’s heart.

“It was difficult for Yuna and me to accept, so we decided to move to a new neighborhood - somewhere without the const