ERNEST PALACE

I swallowed, looking around at the destruction I’d created in my own space. I was losing it. Truly. My life was unraveling, and it wasn’t about to get better if I continued to ignore what was really eating at me.

“No,” I answered flatly. “I wasn’t attacked.”

“You did this?” She didn’t bother to hide her dismay. “Why?”

I inhaled deeply.

“I… I don’t know. The insurance isn’t going to pay out, and… I…”

I pursed my lips.

“That girl has you spun into a tornado,” Virgil accused me, her body still curled into a ball. I extended a hand to help her up, and she begrudgingly accepted it now that she saw I was no danger to her or anyone else. “You haven’t been right since she showed up here.”

“I know,” I agreed. “And I need to do something about it.”

Virgil smoothed out the front of her A-line skirt and primped her dark hair lightly, struggling to regain her own stoic expression, but I could see I had shaken her to the core. She maintained a safe distance from me, and I gave her space, my heart s