"Well," she said, each syllable clipped like shards of flint striking stone. "I see the band is fully assembled and ready to rip the lingering scales from my eyes."
Despite the acid undertone, I could hear the faintest warbling of vulnerability beneath her words - a plea for rationality, an opportunity to defuse this rapidly escalating powder keg before we all found ourselves consumed in the blast radius.
"Zoe, please," I began, raising my hands in a pacifying gesture even as I fought to keep my voice steady and soothing. "You have to know we never wanted to ambush you like this or force some kind of dramatic showdown. We just thought that after so many years, you deserved a chance to finally get the answers you've been denying yourself."
For a long, stretching beat, she simply stared b
