ELENA

~•~

I found her in the kitchen like nothing in the world was wrong, humming, wiping down a counter that was already clean, and I swear my hands wanted to grab that teapot and throw it at the back of her head.

I didn’t. I smiled instead. God, the smiling in this house was going to kill me before anybody’s father did.

“Morning,” I said.

She turned around all warm, like we were friends. “You’re up. I was starting to worry. You didn’t come down for ...