The room was frozen in a deafening silence, with all eyes fixed on me like a predator sizing up its prey. Aria's face was ghastly pale, her eyes wide with fear, as if she were staring into the abyss. Our past squabbles seemed trivial now, for I had never unleashed my full fury upon her. But the revelation of her engagement to Ezekiel Luciano had ignited a firestorm within me, and I was beyond reason.
"Aria Ashbourne, I mean it," I hissed, my voice dripping with deadly venom. "If you won't end this engagement, I'll forget that you're my sister, my family. You'll be nothing to me."
Her voice trembled as she spoke, but her expression changed in a split second, her eyes flashing with defiance. "Do you think I'm scared of you? That I'll do what you demand just because you're threatening me?" she spat, her words laced with venom.
