A New Offer

Their shared bedroom was bathed in the soft glow of the late afternoon sun, filtering through the half-closed curtains. He sat across from Cathleen. Every crease in his brow was marked by the years he'd spent avoiding the spotlight that now seemed to scrutinize his family unforgivingly.

Silence hung heavy, charged with the unspoken, before Xavier walked to the leather seat chair, settled next to the window, and sat. He leaned back in his chair, the leather groaning under the shift of his weight. "What did your family say when you caught your sister and your fiance?" His voice was low as if he were afraid to stir the air too much around her fragile frame.

She braced herself against the edge of the wheelchair, fingers white-knuckled, gripping onto the last shreds of composure. "That, since Finn had slept with Avery, I should let him go," she said, her voice a razor's edge, cutting through the stillness. Her eyes mirrored a storm cloud ready to burst, yet not a single tear fell. "Not tha