Annabelle looked down at Sherly, her expression unreadable. The little boy clung to Vin's hand, his innocent eyes watching the scene unfold with quiet curiosity. The tension hung heavy in the air, thick with unresolved pain and the echoes of past wrongs.
For a long moment, Annabelle said nothing, her eyes scanning Sherly's face as if searching for something. The anger that had initially flashed in her eyes slowly ebbed, replaced by a weary, resigned sadness. She had been hurt deeply, and those wounds were not easily healed. But seeing Sherly now, broken and remorseful, something inside her softened.
"You can't just apologize and expect everything to be okay," Annabelle finally said, her voice steady but soft. "What you did, what Lydia did, it can't be undone. The damage was real, and I've had to rebuild my life from the ground up because of it."
