#Chapter 141: Sowing Lies

ELENA The low fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, washing everything in a sterile, humming glow. Maggie sat across from me, wrists cuffed, the chains on the table between us rattling softly every time she moved. Her eyes were red, her mouth pressed into a thin, trembling line. She looked like a ghost of the girl I'd once known—the fierce, defiant Maggie who'd survived things we didn’t speak about. I waited. I let the silence stretch until it pressed against my ribs, until she had no choice but to speak. Finally, her voice cracked through the stillness. "I couldn’t miss it," she whispered. "I had to see Erin’s wedding." I blinked, momentarily stunned. "You snuck onto Moonstone land," I said, my voice sharper than I intended, "risked being caught, thrown into prison—this—just to... watch?" Maggie flinched as if the words physically hit her. "You were looking for me," she said, her voice barely audible. "I knew you wouldn’t welcome me back." I swallowed down the ugly