Bella placed an arm around Ava’s shoulder and drew her in, allowing the girl to rest her head while she cried. After a while, the body-wracking sobs settled into sniffles. She took the box of tissues Bella offered and began cleaning herself up, wiping away the remnants of her catharsis.
The settled into a companionable silence while Ava finished regathering her composure. With a comforting pat on the back, Bella began to rise from her spot on Ava’s be, “I shou– “
“What did you mean?” Ava interrupted, “About the prisons.”
Taking a beat, Madame Bella seemed to weigh how just how much she’d already revealed to the girl and how much more she was comfortable sharing. Finally coming to some internal conclusion, Bella slowly lowered herself back down to her spot at Ava’s side.
“I
