Nora's POV
Matteo. Damn it. Everything had been spiraling downward, then crashed completely, and for a brief moment seemed salvageable. I deserved one goddamn reprieve.
"You need to leave," I blurt out frantically.
"Too late for that now," Shane responds with unsettling composure. "Remain inside the house, Eleonora. This matter is between my brothers and myself." He glances toward Hugo, giving him a subtle nod of solidarity. Hugo drains his wine glass completely and rises from his chair.
"Planning to murder another family member tonight, brother?"
Shane shoots him a withering look before turning to me. "I love you, my daughter." He vanishes in a whisper of feathers, and I despise how final that felt. Hugo disappears immediately after, leaving the rest of us staring at each other in stunned quiet.
"Matteo is your uncle?" Ophelia breaks through the silence.
"Yes," I confirm, and the full weight of this disaster crashes over me.
