Windsor's POV
Pauline stared at me with a mixture of surprise and sympathy. "You don't have a phone at all?"
The heat in my cheeks intensified. "My mother controls all our family's communication devices. She monitors every call, every text, every app download. I wasn't allowed to have my own phone."
"Even at your age?"
"Especially at my age. She said I couldn't be trusted with that kind of freedom."
Pauline's expression shifted to something like anger. "That's not normal, Windsor. That's controlling and abusive."
I'd never thought of it in those terms before, but hearing someone else say it out loud made something click into place. My mother's behavior wasn't protective parenting. It was manipulation.
"Well, that ends now," Pauline said firmly, getting up and rummaging through her dresser drawer. "I have my old phone somewhere. It's older and the screen glitches sometimes, but it works fine for basic stuff."
"I can't take your phone."
