JACKSON'S POV

I did it again.

Said the wrong thing. Reacted the wrong way. And like always, the guilt came crashing down before the last word even finished echoing in the air.

Vera didn’t have to scream or break down for me to realize how badly I had messed up. I’ve been around her long enough now to know how she handles pain. Silence. A heavy, trembling silence that crushes everything in its path.

If she’s truly hurting, she won’t say a word. She won’t even blink wrong. She’ll just hold her breath like a fragile porcelain doll, scared that even breathing too hard might make the pain fall out...