CHAPTER 13 — CONSEQUENCES
Peace never arrived so quietly.
It hovered at the edges of the Moretti estate like a guest no one trusted — present, tolerated, but never fully welcomed.
Amara felt it in the way that conversations stopped when ever she entered a room.
She noticed it in the longer glances, the guarded expressions, the subtle recalculations happening behind careful smiles. The ceasefire had ended open conflict, but it had started something else entirely.
Scrutiny.
She stood at the window of the sitting room, watching guards change shifts in the courtyard below. Everything looked exactly the same. That was the problem.
Nothing ever truly stayed the same in Alessandro’s world.
“You should stop blaming yourself,” Clara said quietly from behind her.
Amara turned. “I’m not blam
