Bella’s P.O.V.
Silence pressed heavy against the walls, heavier than anything I’d ever felt before.
Mason’s words, Ryan’s accusations, the fire of anger simmering in everyone around us—it all lingered like smoke choking the air. My hands were trembling, my chest tight, but something inside me shifted.
I couldn’t sit here and let this rot between us.
If I didn’t speak now, if I didn’t pull the truth out of me and place it before him, then this bond—this fragile, celestial miracle we had fought through blood and fire for—would collapse under the weight of doubt.
I rose to my feet, my legs shaky but determined. Mason was seated across the room, shoulders tense, jaw clenched, his hands gripping the edge of the seat as if holding onto sanity. His eyes followed me, shadowed with confusion,
