Chapter 7 | Gathering

My fingers curl against my chest, pressing down as if to steady the erratic rhythm beneath. It started with the sharp crash of glass shattering against the floor—a violent, jagged sound that ripped through the air like a blade. Then, the silence stretched, hanging precariously before it crumbled beneath the weight of raised voices.

The shouts—low, guttural, seething—reverberate through the mansion, bouncing off the walls like an unforgiving echo.

I try to focus on the present. On the dining table where I sit, waiting as Alexandra instructed. She should’ve joined me by now. But instead, she lingers, her brows drawn together in a deep, pensive furrow.

She hasn't spoken much—just a quiet, rhythmic sigh, her thumbs endlessly twirling over one another as her gaze remains locked toward the hallway.

Perhaps she is waiting for someone?

Above us, the chaos abruptly halts. A silence thicker than before settles in its place, heavy and unnatural.

My breath catches.

A strange sensation—something fo