Edward's Point Of View
I took a deep breath, feeling the weight of the promise I was about to make… a promise I intended to keep, unlike so many I'd broken before. "Everything will be fine, Lydia. I promise you, your father is going to handle the debt, and we're going to fix this. But please... stop this madness. Stop it entirely, right now, and start focusing on your own life, your own growth. Not on tearing someone else down to make yourself feel taller. Can you do that for me? Can you try?"
Lydia didn't speak right away. She just held onto me tightly in the quiet of the study, her heavy, trembling sobs slowly turning into soft, exhausted breaths against my shoulder. I could feel her heartbeat gradually slowing beneath my palm, her grip on my jacket loosening slightly as the storm inside her began to settle. The grandfather clock in the corner ticked steadily, marking the passage of this moment… this turning point that I prayed we wouldn't waste.
