Savannah's POV
The council chamber felt suffocating as my father dragged Mateo, Dennis, and me inside to address what he called "the situation." The heavy wooden doors slammed shut behind us with a finality that made my stomach clench.
Without warning, my father's palm connected with my cheek. The sting was sharp but somehow less devastating than the blows I remembered from childhood. Age had weakened him, though his cruelty remained intact.
"Get on your knees."
His voice carried no warmth, no trace of the man who had once tucked me into bed. Even military commanders showed more compassion to their troops than he showed his own daughter. But this was nothing new. This was the world I had grown up in, the world I had escaped from, and now the price I had to pay for Mateo's future.
