Chapter 76

OLIVIA’S POV The moment dinner was over and the dishes had been cleared, I curled up on the couch with my phone in hand, my fingers unconsciously tracing over the edge of the screen. I wasn’t checking messages. I wasn’t scrolling mindlessly. I was just… holding it. Because it felt like the only thing keeping me grounded. That and the small, distant hum of Aria and Noah laughing as they played in the other room. Their laughter, at least, reminded me that I still had something worth fighting for. James sat across from me on the armchair, his leg bouncing up and down as he anxiously flicked through a folder of notes we’d started gathering on Mom’s case. He hadn’t said anything about the earlier incident in the hallway—about Grace’s venomous accusations or Dominic’s attempt to play mediator. And for that, I was grateful. I didn’t want to talk about any of them. Not right now. All I could see when I closed my eyes was my mother’s face behind that thick glass barrier in the dungeon. Her tire