Chapter 15: Truth and Lies
The silence that follows Ella's desperate question stretches between them like a chasm, filled with nineteen years of carefully guarded secrets and the weight of revelations that can't be taken back. Margaret's tear-stained face crumples with the burden of what she's about to confess, while David's shoulders bow under the guilt he's carried for nearly two decades.
"Sweetheart," Margaret begins, her voice trembling with the effort to remain composed, "please, you need to calm down. I know you're angry, and you have every right to be, but this conversation... it needs to happen somewhere private. Somewhere safe."
Ella looks around the vast hall filled with supernatural beings, suddenly aware that their family drama is unfolding in front of an audience that inclu
