Chapter 14 - Cracks in the Armor
The following days were not easy.
The Cross estate, once a place of absolute authority, became a space of uneasy conversations and long-overdue truths.
Documents were reviewed. Old decisions resurfaced. Names once forgotten were spoken again.
Victoria struggled the most.
“You’re asking me to relive everything,” she said one afternoon, her voice tight. “All the compromises, all the things we justified…”
Elara sat across from her, calm but not cold.
“I’m asking you to acknowledge them,” she replied. “There’s a difference.”
Victoria looked down at her hands. “And if I can’t?”
Elara didn’t hesitate.
“Then nothing changes.”
Across the house, Daniel paced in his office, replaying that night over and over.
The plate.
The impact.
Her stillness.
May you like
For the first time in his life, he couldn’t justify his own behavior.
And that unsettled him more than anything else.
