237 Tempers Flare

(Winona)

Jayden’s speech echoes through the grand ballroom, his voice steady and confident, but my mind is focused on the tension at our table.

“Age is just a number. We’re happy together.” Cass says as she stabs at her salad with her fork and eats it.

I lean toward her, keeping my voice low enough not to disrupt the speech but firm enough to make my point clear. “You’re barely eighteen, and he’s thirty. Don’t you think this is moving way too fast?”

Cass doesn’t even flinch. She stabs her fork into her salad again, her tone casual but dripping with sarcasm. “I’m not a kid, Winona. I know exactly what I’m doing. You don’t have to act like you are my mother. My mother is dead.”

“I’m not trying to be your mother,” I shoot back, trying to keep my cool as Jayden speaks about the Brennan Wing’s accomplishments.

“I’m trying to be your sister. There’s a difference. Gabriel is way too old for you, and you barely know him. What if this whole thing blows up in your face? You don’t even know his