Lena

They don't get to spend twelve years breaking you down and then walk away unpunished."

I looked at his face. At the cold fury there.

At the way he was holding himself together by pure force of will.

"Then we both learned to survive people who should have protected us," I said quietly.

Julian went absolutely still.

"What?"

"You had a mother who left without apologizing and a father who blamed you for not being enough to make her stay. I had a mother who died and a father who blamed me for surviving and a stepmother who made me feel like I should have died instead." I looked...