The headlines come faster than I can read them.
They stack on top of each other in my feed, overlapping, shouting, contradicting themselves with confidence. Damian’s name is everywhere. Adrian’s name is everywhere. Mine slips in between them like a blade, sharpened by speculation.
Some say Damian knew.
Some say he protected his brother.
Some say he enabled everything and only turned when it was convenient.
And then there are the ones about me.
Manipulative.
Opportunistic.
A survivor only when it benefits her.
A woman who attached herself to power and cried victim when it suited her.
I stop scrolling.
My hands are shaking, but the feeling underneath the fear is different this time. It is not collapse. It is not the old urge to disappear.
It is heat.
Damian takes my phone from m
