48

You accept the connection as soon as the warehouse door closes behind you.

Your ex-wife's face is wet with tears, her eyes puffy.

"What happened? What's wrong?"

"Some boy at school hurt Vitória, André Timoteo." She looks away, as if hesitating. "He said her father is a psycho. Vitória took him on. We're in the hospital right now." She pauses to wipe her face. "The doctors say she's going to be fine, but…Can you come, please?"

Before you even know what you're doing, you curse loudly and punch the wall behind you. You barely miss the holoscanner.

The pain travels up your arm in waves.

You may be mostly in control, but you still have the emotional threshold of an addict. Vidya looks at you the way she used to look at you back then, when you were still the person she turned to when everything went wrong.