The more Violet spoke, the more it felt as if someone had taken a chisel to Cain's heart and was slowly hammering away, piece by piece. Every word dug deeper, widening cracks that could never be mended. His chest rose and fell with ragged breaths, but he never looked away from her. His gaze burned redder, sharp as coals fanned into a wild blaze, and still she pressed on.
Her voice came steady, but her lips trembled between syllables, words escaping in small stutters that betrayed how much effort it took to force them out.
"It was never supposed to be permanent! I want to be free… free to live my life with my biological mother!"
The declaration cracked through the tension in the air like lightning, raw and merciless. Violet knew it was the truth that Cain would flinch hardest at, and indeed she saw it ripple across his features—the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, the taut bristle in his shoulders.
