Awakened
Yet, as she finished speaking, wiping the tear from her cheek with the back of her hand, something extraordinary happened.
The hollow devastation in her eyes didn't linger. It burned away, replaced by that same lethal, blinding light I had seen in the dining room. The fire in her heart, forged in the ashes of her family's betrayal, blazed right back to life. She reached down, unzipped her handbag, and pulled out the thick, leather-bound folder she had retrieved from the hidden safe.
She laid it on the coffee table between us, tapping her index finger against the aged leather.