The word hit Eva harder than anything else—stray. It echoed in her chest, raw and ugly. Her breath hitched as her thoughts spun. A stray. Does she mean… adopted? She glanced at Alex sharply, searching for answers, but his profile gave nothing away. He didn't so much as twitch at his mother's cruelty. It was like watching a man carve himself hollow to keep the world out.
Alex finally moved, shifting his focus away from the woman who had birthed him, as though she were nothing more than background noise. He turned smoothly toward Whitney. "How are you doing, Whitney?" he asked, the warmth in his voice so carefully manufactured it was almost jarring after his cold dismissal of Kate.
