The silence stretched thin, snapping at my nerves. Her eyes never left mine, sharp and unreadable, as though she had been waiting for me.
I tore my gaze away and turned to my mother.
"Why was I summoned?" The words cut sharper than I intended.
Her lips curved into a smile, one that didn't reach her eyes. "Must a mother need a reason to call her son home?"
I scoffed. "You haven't spoken my name in years. And now, suddenly—" I glanced at the girl standing before me, her hands folded neatly over the documents she had been working on. "You expect me to believe this is just a family reunion?"
The girl tilted her head slightly, amusement flickering across her face. She didn't speak, but her silence taunted me more than words ever could.
My mother stepped forward, her voice calm, deliberate.
"This is Elena," she said, gesturing gracefully. "My friend's daughter. She will be staying here for a while."
Elena.
The name settled between us, heavy and dangerous.
I forced a bitter laugh. "So, that's it? I return after years, and the first thing you do is introduce me to some stranger?"
"Not a stranger," my mother corrected softly. "She's important. To me. To us. And, perhaps, to you."
Her words lingered like smoke, suffocating and cryptic.
Elena's lips curved, just slightly. "If you dislike my presence, you're free to leave," she said, her tone velvet but edged with steel. "But something tells me you won't."
My jaw clenched. She was right—and that infuriated me more than anything.
For the first time since stepping into this house, I realized one thing clearly:
I hadn't been summoned home by chance.
I had been pulled into a game I didn't understand.
And Elena was at the center of it.