Katrina pov
The words slammed into me like a sudden, violent thunderstorm cracking across a completely clear sky.
*“Do you think I am happy that someone is pretending to be my daughter?”*
The sheer weight of her venom echoed in the quiet space between us, vibrating through the floorboards and settling deep into my chest. For a second, I couldn't breathe. The air in the room felt suffocatingly heavy, thick with her resentment and the lingering terror of what had just happened to Max. I looked at Mrs. Robert, watching the cold, hard lines of her face. There was no warmth there. There never had been. But to hear her say it out loud, to hear her paint herself as the ultimate victim in a mess her own daughter had created, made something snap deep inside me.
A strange, icy calm washed over
