The room was heavy with stunned silence.
Everyone seemed trapped in a fog of horror after what they had just witnessed. Only Damien, Dominique, and Alexandre possessed even the faintest understanding of what Jacqueline had endured before. They had pieced together fragments of the truth over time.
The others had known nothing.
And what they saw tonight had shaken them deeply.
None of them could have imagined that the girl who laughed so easily, who always filled the room with light, had been carrying such unbearable pain inside her all along.
The realization struck them brutally.
She had suffered so much… and yet she had continued standing tall, smiling, trying to brighten the lives of everyone around her.
That truth hurt the most.
Why was it always the kindest souls who seemed to suffer the worst punishments?
Damien carefully lifted Jacqueline into his arms, holding her bridal-style as though she were made of fragile glass. He carried her to the bed and gently laid her down.
