The bitter truth

Silence swallowed the living room.

Even the air conditioner seemed to hush itself, its steady hum fading beneath the pulse of disbelief now filling the space.

Ares’s words lingered. “That’s impossible.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but the denial in it was heavy enough to bend the air.

Chloe didn’t seem surprised. Her fingers rested beside the white stick on the glass table, the two faint pink lines glowing like a confession she could no longer swallow. Her face was ...