The pendant sat against my throat like a collar. Like a chain. The weight of it was suffocating, and not because of its size. I reached up, unclasped it, and set it on the table without a word.
The room went still.
"Mia, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Xavier's voice dropped, the gentleness evaporating like mist off hot asphalt.
"To think she's so ungrateful," someone whispered, not quietly. "No wonder Auntie can't stand her."
Jane's glare could have cut glass. "Mia. Why did you take it off?"
"It's too tight." My voice was calm. Flat. Final.
I ignored the murmurs that swirled around me like cigarette smoke and sat in silence, offering Xavier nothing. Not a glance. Not a word. Not a single crumb of the reaction they all wanted.
None of them understood. None of them could have.