(Lara's POV)
The house was so quiet that Lara could hear her own heartbeat.
An uneven, painful kind that thudded too hard, too high, like it was trying to punch its way out of her ribs.
The kind that didn't let her breathe fully.
The kind that made her chest feel tight and hollow at the same time.
She'd been sitting on the living room sofa for almost twenty minutes, curled slightly forward, elbows on her knees, fingers tangling and untangling as if they were trying to hold something together that had already begun to fall apart.
The clock on the wall ticked loudly, obnoxiously, like it was counting down the moments before she finally cracked.
Her phone buzzed once.
Kate:I'm parking. Be there in a sec.
Lara closed her eyes.
She wasn't ready.
She truly wasn't.
But she also couldn't hold this in anymore.
Her chest wasn't big enough, strong enough, steady enough to contain all the swelling hurt and humiliation and confusion any longer.
The front door clicked.
