Mila could barely feel her legs as she stepped out of the hospital room. The corridor stretched ahead of her, washed in the sterile glow of fluorescent lights, but each step felt heavy, unsteady, as if she were trudging through water. Her chest was tight, her palms clammy, her pulse thundering with the weight of Kimberly’s cruel words and Liam’s silence.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to claw at the stillness around her until it shattered. She wanted to force Liam to speak—to deny it ...