Chapter 69

ARIA'S POV

Gasps spread through the crowd. I couldn't believe my ears. Did Dante really just stand up to his mother? And for me?

Agatha's face turned an alarming shade of red. "How dare you speak to me like that?" she hissed. "I am your mother!”

"And I'm a grown man," Dante shot back. "I can make my own decisions about who I want in my life."

I felt… a bit of relief, but it was quickly overshadowed by the whispers that started up around me.

"Look at her, causing trouble in the family."

"She must have bewitched him somehow."

“How pathetic.”

“But why is he even defending her?”

As they picked me apart with their judgement, a rush of humiliation and frustration welled up inside me, burning in my chest.

I wanted to scream, to tell them to stop looking at me like I was nothing, to tell them they didn’t know the whole truth. But my throat felt tight. I just stood there, feeling helpless, as the whispers grew louder.

Just when I thought I couldn’t stand it any longer, Finn stepped forward.

Da