She had made it for me.
And for herself.
“It doesn’t make sense,” she said, her voice small. “Why would someone do that?”
I didn’t have an answer I wanted to say out loud, but I knew the truth.
I went upstairs.
The moment I opened the door, I knew it wasn’t an accident. The bodice had been ripped, not snagged — stitches yanked out in angry lines.
And across the skirt was a dark red stain that didn’t look like a spill.
It looked like someone stood over it and poured.
Lily made a sound behind me — sharp, broken — and I turned to pull her into my arms.
