For four days, Esme shut herself away in her office, cloaking her emotions behind the walls of her solitude. Files piled up around her desk, papers covered in notes and scribbles, yet her mind drifted from her work. It wasn't sadness, nor anger, that kept her locked away.
The truth was, she was overwhelmed by a feeling she hadn't let herself fully embrace: joy. Pure, unfiltered joy, which stirred within her like the softest flutter of wings. A new life, tied to her by blood, was coming into this world—a child who would carry both her strength and Ray's, their combined power, their legacy.
