Angelica found herself momentarily paralyzed as her gaze met David's striking sapphire eyes. Words that she had long rehearsed dissolved in her throat, leaving her utterly speechless. What could she possibly say to him now, after everything?
To David, she was supposed to be dead, a belief that had driven him down the path of disgrace, turning him into the outcast—the so-called "trash" of the family. The weight of that history, of all the misunderstandings and lost time, hung between them like a heavy veil.
David, sensing the tension in her lingering silence, cleared his throat awkwardly. "Ahem."
