The final straw

The air inside the Cole mansion felt dense. Heavy. Like the oxygen itself resisted entering Ivy’s lungs.

Mrs. Cole’s voice cut through the suffocating silence.

“Do you have anything else to say before we take action?”

Her tone was not merely cold, it was judgment passed before trial. Ivy felt the words strike her chest like physical blows. Her lips trembled. Her throat burned. But her voice… would not come.

She stood by the door, back pressed to the frame as if it were the only thing keeping her upright. Sweat clung to her temples. Tears had dried into faint streaks on her cheeks. Her left hand was white around the doorframe while her right hand was holding her baby bump protectively.

Everything inside her felt numb.

She looked at the floor.

She couldn’t look at Asher.

Not when he hadn’t looked at her once. Not when she felt her heart bleeding out in front of all of them.

Asher didn’t speak. His fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles had gone bone-white. Tendons strained down his