"No one knows what it did to me," Jacqueline said quietly. "I never told anyone. No one needs to know." Her voice thinned before she continued, "It was just me and my brother after that. Mathieu. He's ten now."
"Who's your guardian?" Damien asked, his tone steady.
"Mr. Julien. My stepfather. He's Mathieu's dad."
Damien gave a small nod. He knew exactly which Julien she meant the same man hosting tonight's event.
She had lost her mother so young, yet she carried herself as if nothing had cracked inside her. He understood trauma. He lived with it. So how did she seem so… normal? Was she truly that strong? Or had she buried her grief so deep that she no longer allowed herself to feel? Unlike him, who was still trapped in the same place he'd been three years ago.
"Are we going to die here?" she asked suddenly, fear slipping back into her voice.
"No," he replied flatly.
Silence crashed down between them.
"What do you think about ghosts?" she blurted out, almost randomly.
