Chapter 118: A Family Divided

The air in the room felt thick, heavy, like a storm was brewing just on the horizon. I could feel the weight of it pressing against my chest, squeezing the breath out of me. We had been through so much, Damien and I, and yet it seemed as though the worst was still to come.

I stood by the large, ornate fireplace in our living room, the crackling of the fire the only sound in the otherwise silent space. The flames danced, flickering against the darkened walls, but their warmth couldn't reach me. Not now. Not after everything that had just happened.

Damien stood across the room, his hands clenched into fists, his jaw set in that stubborn line I had come to know all too well. His gaze was fixed on the floor, but I knew his mind was racing, his thoughts tangled in the same web of uncertainty that had been suffocating us for weeks.