Sophia sat quietly beside Ethan in the car, her fingers wrapped tightly around her phone as though it were the only thing anchoring her to the present moment. The leather seat beneath her was barely registered in her mind. Her grip was so tight that the skin over her knuckles turned ghost white, her nails faintly digging into her palm.
She didn't fully trust Camilla. She never had.
Not since the moment she saw her turn against Aneira with a coldness only someone truly heartless could muster. The woman had raised Aneira, cradled her as a baby, waatched her grow. Yet the moment she became "useless," Camilla didn't hesitate to cast her aside like trash. That image had never left Sophia's mind. It haunted her more now, especially with the court hearing looming like a sword over her head.
Camilla may be her biological mother, but Sophia never saw her as such. She never would. If Camilla could betray someone she raised, who was she to think she was different?
