DANIELA POV
The moment Alphonce appeared at the door with Nathaniel and Katherine in each side of his hands, the air shifted, thickening with tension. A suffocating silence fell over the room, every heartbeat amplifying in the stillness. The weight of unspoken words pressed down on everyone present. If a needle had dropped, it would have echoed like a gunshot.
I froze where I stood, eyes fixed on Alphonce as disbelief flooded my senses. ‘He actually showed up,’ I thought, the sting of his last words still fresh. After everything, I didn’t expect him to come here. He should at least dropped the kids secretly earlier than coming here.
Alexander stood stod still where he was, stiff and unreadable, though I knew better. His surprise was well-masked, but I could see it in the faint twitch of
