~Aaron's POV
I stared at her in disbelief.
"You refuse?" I repeated slowly. "After everything I just told you… you still refuse?"
She didn't answer.
And in that moment, something inside me shifted. I stepped back, running my hand down my face, trying to steady myself. "You didn't protect me," I said quietly. "You destroyed me. You destroyed my family."
She didn't look shaken.
That was the part that unsettled me the most.
After everything I had said, after the weight of truth I had just thrown into the room, Aunty Brenda simply adjusted her stance, lifted her chin slightly, and looked at me like she was still in control.
"What happened five years ago," she began slowly, her tone measured, almost dismissive, "was necessary. I was protecting you."
I stared at her, my chest rising and falling, disbelief settling deep in my bones. "Protecting me?" I repeated, my voice low and dangerous.
"Yes," she said without hesitation. "From a girl who had no place in your life."
