**SAMANTHA'S POINT OF VIEW**

"Sweetheart, please, just stop crying. I don’t understand what's going on with you," Mom pleaded, concern etched on her face.

"You've been so withdrawn and you refuse to share what happened to you. Why are you in tears?" But her gentle inquiries only made my sobs intensify. Since returning from the Higgins mansion, I have just been barricaded in my room, engulfed in my sorrow, feeling utterly desolate.

The memory of seeing Donovan—I still can’t wrap my mind around it. The way he embraced his nurse, the genuine affection in his eyes, pierced through me like a knife.

He clearly cares for her; it was evident...