SOPHIE

“Come here, Madison.”

The name hit me like a slap in the middle of the upstairs hallway.

I froze with a stack of folded towels in my arms. Ethan stood in the doorway of his room, shoulder against the frame, eyes dark and focused on me like we weren’t standing ten feet from our parents’ closed bedroom door. He had never used her name outside of the sessions before. Never blurred the line in the open air of the house.

My pulse slammed between my legs instantly.

“Ethan—”

“Madison.” His voice stayed low, calm, but there was steel under it. “Drop the towels and come here.”

I set them...