When she spoke, her voice was steady. Controlled. But there was something underneath—something that sounded almost like grief.
"Do you know what you're asking me to consider?"
"Yes."
"You're asking me to doubt my family. To hedge against my own blood. To treat family loyalty like a... like a commodity to be traded."
"I'm asking you to survive."
"At what cost?" Brielle's voice cracked. Just slightly. "If I start thinking like you—if I start treating every relationship as a transaction, every bond as a potential liability—what does that make me? What's left of me when I've calculated away everything that matters?"
Paige didn't answer immediately.
"The Heavenchilds demand absolute loyalty," Brielle continued. "You're right about that. They demand we put family first, always, without question. And yes—maybe that's controlling. Maybe it's suffocating. Maybe it means we never get to be fully ourselves."
She stepped closer to her twin.
