~ELISE POV~
The silence after Vivian left was deafening.
I sat in the living room, my hands still shaking, while Adrian carried a sobbing Noah upstairs. The lawyer had packed up and left quickly, clearly uncomfortable with the disaster the visit had become. And I was alone with the echo of Vivian’s words ringing in my ears.
*Enjoy it while it lasts, sweetheart.*
I pressed my palms against my thighs, trying to stop the trembling. I hadn’t broken. Hadn’t run. I’d stood my ground and fought back.
But god, she was exactly as terrifying as everyone had warned.
Beautiful and cruel and so precise with her cruelty. Every word calculated to wound. Every look designed to make me feel small. She’d attacked my presence, my motives, my relationship with Adrian, all while maintaining that perfect,
