"Seraphina, this is exactly what we warned you about," she cried, her voice breaking as emotion spilled over. "We told you he was calculating. We told you he wasn't what he pretended to be. He's always been after our territory, our name, always! That man never loved you, not for a second. And those kids…" Her voice faltered, her grip tightening on my arm. "You don't even know where they came from! But you wouldn't listen. You refused to listen to us."
Her words trembled with both anger and despair, years of suppressed worry finally breaking free.
My father had stormed off earlier in a fit of rage, unable to bear what he was witnessing. But now he returned, flanked by two of his oldest soldiers who kept a respectful distance, his expression dark as thunder, his entire body rigid with fury. The room felt the shift before anyone saw him. Conversations nearest the door died first, then silence spread outward like a pressure wave. Even diminished by age, even with his heart betraying him, Don Salvatore Valente still moved through a room the way a blade moves through water.
The moment his eyes landed on me, something inside him seemed to snap all over again.