The silence that followed Vanessa's decision did not feel empty.
It felt fragile.
Like something had been placed carefully between them, something that could either hold or shatter depending on what was said next.
Vanessa didn't move away from Gale immediately.
She stood there, close enough to feel the quiet steadiness of his presence, close enough that the space between them no longer felt neutral, but she did not lean into it either. There was something unsettled inside her, something that had nothing to do with Arden anymore and everything to do with what had just been revealed.
Not the past.
But the way it had been hidden from her.
Marco shifted slightly in the background, sensing the change but choosing not to interrupt this time, his usual commentary replaced with a rare kind of restraint. Even he could tell this was no longer about the external threat. This was something else.
Something sharper.
Vanessa spoke first.
"You knew," she said.
Her voice wasn't loud.
