NIKO.
I refused instantly. The word left my mouth sharp and final, cutting through the room before my mother could even finish her sentence. “No.”
My mother froze, her perfectly arched brows lifting as if she had never heard the word directed at her before. The twins stood beside Alex, wide-eyed, sensing the sudden shift in the air. Edmund stiffened near the doorway, his posture polite but cautious, as though he already knew this confrontation was about to turn ugly.
“Excuse me?” my mother asked coolly. “Niko, I said she should be dismissed. Immediately.”
I clenched my jaw. I hadn’t realized how deeply this would anger me until that moment, until I heard the familiar tone she used when she believed her status gave her the authority to erase people. I had hated that tone as a child, hat
