Valeria

Breakfast that morning was quiet. The dining room was bright from the sunlight streaming through the tall windows, but my mind was somewhere else. For the first time in days, the house felt calm. The guards spoke softly outside, the maids moved quietly between rooms, and everything seemed steady.

I sat at the table with a cup of tea and a small plate of toast. The papers beside me were filled with reports from the last week—shipment records, balance sheets, and updates from the ...