Layla's POV
The silence was unbearable.
Everyone stared at the documents. At the photos. At me.
I'd rehearsed this in my head a million times — what I would say, how I'd explain, how maybe they'd understand. But nothing could've prepared me for the actual silence. The weight of it. The sharpness of it. Like I'd just dropped a bomb and they were still frozen in the blast.
Sofia was the first to speak. Her voice barely above a whisper.
"This is real?"
Her eyes searched mine like she wanted to believe me like some part of her still remembered how close we used to be.
I nodded slowly. "It's real."
Valerie stood abruptly. "So you disappeared for three years because of this?" Her voice cracked. "You didn't think we deserved even a single explanation? A message? A goodbye?"
"I couldn't," I said quietly, guilt flooding my throat. "I didn't even understand what was happening. I didn't want to drag any of you into it. I thought if I just… left, maybe it would stop."
"Stop?" Valerie snapped. "Layla, we loved you. You were my best friend. You think I cared if you were spiraling? I would've sat through every breakdown, every dark night, every moment you felt like giving up."
"I know," I whispered. "I know. I hated myself every single day for not reaching out. I just… I felt like I was cursed. Like something was following me. I didn't want it to touch you, too."
Summer wrapped her arms around her knees on the couch, her voice small. "You didn't even tell Sofia or me. We're practically your sisters."
"I'm sorry," I said, blinking fast. "I thought I was protecting you."
"Protecting us?" A new voice cut through the room — cold, deep, sharp like ice.
Aster…
He hadn't moved from where he leaned against the wall, but the tension in his body was different now. Rigid. Furious.
"You think disappearing without a word was protection?"
I looked at him, my chest tightening. His eyes — usually so calm, always the safest place in the room were hard now. Unforgiving. And for the first time, they weren't looking at me like I belonged. They were looking at me like I was a stranger.
"No," I said, barely able to speak. "I just… I didn't know how to stay."
Aster laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Right. So you ran. Just like that. After everything."
"I was scared—"
"We were all scared!" he snapped. "But you didn't think twice about what it would do to the people who cared about you. You didn't think about what it did to me."
My breath caught.
"Aster…" I stepped forward.
He straightened, eyes burning. "Do you have any idea how many nights I called you? How many times I stared at my phone hoping maybe, just maybe you'd reply? Do you know what it felt like thinking maybe you were dead?"
I couldn't answer. I was crying now, silently.
"I waited for you, Layla," he said, voice low and broken. "I trusted you. And you left without looking back."
"I didn't want to hurt you."
"Well, congratulations," he spat. "You did."
Silence again.
Everyone was still, unsure of what to say. Even Ace looked away.
I wiped my face and forced myself to keep going. "I never stopped thinking about anyone of you. I missed you every day. But something was wrong. I knew it in my gut. I felt it watching me. And now… now I know I was right."
I reached back toward the table, grabbed the file.
"This isn't just about me. It's about all of us now. They've been tracking us all of us. Anyone connected to my mom. Anyone who could be used against her."
Ace finally moved. He stepped forward, picked up one of the photos. It was of me, leaving a bookstore in California.
"They took this a year ago I guess ," he said quietly.
I nodded. "They know where we are. They've known for years."
"And your mom?" Summer asked gently.
I hesitated. "They have her I think. I don't know where. I only know… they consider her a traitor. For marrying my dad for some reason. For having us."
Sofia inhaled sharply. "That's why your bloodline is being hunted."
I nodded. "They want to erase the mistake she made. Starting with me."
Valerie sank back onto the couch, stunned. "This is bigger than any of us ever thought."
Noah finally spoke up. "And I don't think they're done. There's more in this file. I haven't cracked all of it, but the way they've been tracking Layla and her siblings? It's… it's systematic. Organized. This is a hunt."
Ace looked at me. For the first time, there was something different in his expression. Less guarded. Less cold.
"They're not going to touch you," he said.
I blinked. "What?"
"We're not letting them," he said simply. "If this is the past coming back to haunt you then they'll have to go through all of us first."
Summer nodded. "You should've never had to carry this alone."
Valerie finally reached for my hand. "You're still my best friend. Always will be. You don't have to prove anything."
And then… Aster.
He hadn't moved. But something in his posture softened.
"I'm still angry," he said. "I don't forgive you. Not yet. But I'm not letting you face this alone."
My heart cracked.
"I never expected you to forgive me," I said, voice breaking. "I just needed you all to know… I never stopped loving anyone of you."
Aster looked away.
But I saw it — the flicker in his jaw. The tear he blinked away before it could fall.
We were broken. But maybe, just maybe… we could be broken together.
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