Maria.
I lifted my head slowly and turned my gaze toward the Quadruplets, my heart thudding so loudly in my chest that I was certain everyone around me could hear it. All eyes were on them now, waiting for their final judgment, waiting to know who I would be handed over to, as though I were an object being passed across a table.
Seconds stretched into eternity.
No one spoke.
The garden fell into a suffocating silence, the kind that pressed heavily against the ears and made breathing feel like a conscious effort. Even the night breeze seemed to hold still, as though the world itself was waiting.
My fingers curled tightly into the fabric of my dress as dread crept up my spine. I searched their faces desperately, Aidan, Damien, Davian, Adrien, hoping for something. Anything. A sign. A refusal. Protection.
But there was nothing.
Then suddenly, the silence shattered.
