- Aria
The Stormbourne estate always smelled the same—old money, polished wood, and something sharp underneath, like tension that had soaked into the walls over generations and never left.
I stepped inside behind Luca.
I forced myself to stand tall. I was being dragged into a family mess, but I refused to look like I was giving up.
The sitting room was already full.
Elders sat along the curved couches, some holding tea cups they weren’t drinking from, others with their arms crossed like judges waiting to deliver sentences. Faces turned the moment we entered.
I hated that look.
Hilda was there, perched at the edge of a loveseat.
She wore a cream dress that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe, but she kept tugging at the hem like it was strangling her.
Her
