Chapter Thirteen
“No,” Eleanor said, eyes blazing. “I think you’re the villain because you confuse control with love. Because you protect with a fist instead of an open hand.”
Samuel stood then, quietly but firmly. His voice wasn’t loud, but it cut just the same.
“You think we’ll let her struggle?” he asked. “That I’ll sit back and watch her suffer? That we’ll be a burden to you forever?”
Marcus’s mouth twitched, caught between rage and disbelief.
“You don’t even know me,” Samuel added. “All you see is where I come from."
“I don’t want to!” Marcus thundered.
“You’ll have to!” Eleanor yelled back.
The air pulsed with heat. With fury. With truths too sharp to unsay.
And then, quiet.
A shuffle of measured steps echoed from the hallway.
Then, clear as a bell, and wrapped in unimpres
