ELENA'S POINT OF VIEW
Nathan's presence in the doorway wasn't as still as I had hoped. He stepped into the room, and I watched a whirlwind of emotions wash over his face, shock, denial, confusion, and pain flickering across his features in rapid succession. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, breath coming in uneven gasps, as if he'd just sprinted here from a nightmare.
"You can't..." His voice quivered, barely a whisper, as though the weight of the world hung heavy on each syllable. "You can't expect me to believe this."
His gaze darted between my mother and me, a desperate search for any sign that it was all a cruel misunderstanding. Anything but the cold, hard truth we had just revealed.
"My father?" The words caught in his throat, twisting like a knife. "You're saying my father did this?"
