The weight of the silence in the room was suffocating. It pressed against my chest, filling the space with an invisible force, pushing everything I'd hoped for, everything I'd dreamed of, further out of reach. I sat in the grand study of Blackwood Manor, the same place where so many of my family's decisions had been made, for better or worse. The leather-bound books on the shelves, the dark wood of the furniture—it all felt familiar, but tonight it felt oppressive, like a house that had seen too many lies, too many broken promises.