AVA'S POV
The morning after I signed my name to the storm, I woke up to a world set ablaze.
My phone wouldn't stop buzzing. Messages, missed calls, emails, each one louder than the last. I didn't have to look at them to know what they said. The world had finally seen me. Not as a daughter. Not as an heir. Not as someone quiet enough to control. But as a force.
But it didn't feel like power.
It felt like grief.
I pulled the blankets tighter around me. Outside, the wind howled like something wounded, or maybe warning me. I didn't know which anymore.
Ethan stepped in with two mugs of coffee. His eyes met mine and softened.
"I told them we're not giving any interviews today," he said. "Or tomorrow. Or ever, unless you want to."
I took the mug without saying anything. My hands wrapped around the heat like it could anchor me.
"People are calling me a traitor," I said after a beat. "Others are calling me a hero. They don't know what it's like to burn your whole name to the ground."
