The air feels heavier now, pressing down on my chest as the silence stretches between us. Aubrey’s mask is slipping, but she doesn’t realize just how close we are to unraveling everything. She thinks she still holds the upper hand, that her lies are enough to keep us in check.

I lean back against the tree, my fingers grazing its rough bark. Aubrey doesn’t know we’ve been one step ahead of her all along—how could she, when she doesn’t realize we’re not the only ones in this?

“I don’t get it,” I say, keeping my voice even. “Why all the secrets, Aunt Aubrey? You’ve always been so…put-together. So perfect. But Gabriel—he wasn’t stupid. He would’ve figured it out eventually. What were you so afraid of?”

Her lips twitch, but she doesn’t answer right away. She’s calculating, weighing her next move.

“You think you know everything, don’t you?” she says finally, her tone sharp. “But you don’t, Teddy. You have no idea what it was like—what I went through. You’re just like your mother—blind. Always believing in fairy tales and happy endings.”

I don’t flinch, even though my jaw tightens at the sound of my old nickname. She’s trying to manipulate me. I won’t let her.

Selene tilts her head, her eyes narrowing. “Then explain it to us,” she says softly, her voice laced with just enough empathy to sound convincing. “Help us understand.”

Aubrey’s gaze flickers to Selene, then to Mo, and finally to me. She exhales shakily, her fingers tightening around the edge of the blanket she’s sitting on.

“It started with George,” she says, her voice low. “Our honeymoon. I thought it was going to be perfect. But then…” Her jaw tightens, and she looks away, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “I caught him with Cassandra. At our reception. In the bathroom. On our wedding night.”

The confession hangs in the air like a toxic cloud. None of us say a word, letting her keep going.