97. Javier
Words couldn’t describe what I saw in front of me. Claudia stood like a sentinel, her body a barrier between me and Athena’s limp form.
The morning sun wrapped around us like a suffocating shroud, pierced only by the faint gleam of steel and the sinister glint in her eyes. A slow, cruel smile curved her lips, and something in that expression chilled me to the bone.
I had thought she was weak, a mere nuisance that Lorenzo coddled. Now, as my men surged forward, blades gleaming, the truth shattered that illusion into splinters.
The first man lunged, his face twisted in a snarl. Claudia’s body moved with a deadly grace, fluid and unrestrained. She spun, swift and deliberate, her hand flashing out. Before I could blink, her fingers hooked under his jaw. A sickening crunch echoe
