Meeting Her Grandmother-in-law

Adele~

The living room was everything mediocre wasn't. From the floor, to the stairs, to the walls, I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said it was my first time stepping into a home this heavenly.

I wanted to ogle at everything until my eyes were pregnant with satisfaction, but I couldn't break character. Not when Mia was tailing behind me like my tail.

I lifted my chin, straightened my shoulders, and pressed my lips together the way people do when they’re used to being important. Fake it till you make it, right?

The silence of the place pressed on me, thick and unyielding. Even the air smelled expensive, some faint blend of sandalwood and power.

Then—tap.

The sound cracked the quiet.

Tap.

It came again, steady, deliberate, echoing against the marble like a judge’s gavel. My chest clenched. I didn’t need anyone to tell me what that sound belonged to. A cane.

“Madam Helena,” Lucy whispered, almost reverently, as though saying her name too loud would offend the walls. “Don't fidg