Her mother's words struck the room like a physical blow, freezing everyone in place.
For a moment, Jules felt her breath lodge painfully in her throat, as if the air itself refused to move.
She couldn't believe that her own mother, her own blood, had sunk so low as to drag out a past she had tried so desperately to bury.
'How can she stand here so shamelessly? How can she expose my scars as if they were gossip? How can she be so cruel when she knows exactly how hard I fought to stay alive?'
The revelation didn't shock Jules as much as the realization behind it: her mother had become so consumed by bitterness after the death of her younger daughter that she no longer possessed even a sliver of guilt or hesitation.
To Annie, exposing Jules's pain wasn't an act of betrayal; it was simply another opportunity to indulge her resentment.
