Sarah's POV
My heart thundered in my chest. I felt sick and small and furious all at once. Every foul thing Nancy said landed like a blow, but what steadied me, what kept me from running, was Reagan's voice: fierce, protective, immovable.
Listening to him defend me, to stand up against her poison, I felt something fierce and tender bloom in my chest. Fear and adrenaline mixed with a strange, warm pride. He believed in me enough to fight, and even in the middle of threats and lies, which made my knees go weak.
I didn't move. I could barely breathe. But inside, behind the tremor and the shock, something else settled: a quiet certainty that whatever storm Nancy tried to unleash, we would face it together.
The moment Nancy's last poisonous words echoed through the door, something inside me snapped. Enough was enough. I couldn't just stand there anymore, trembling in the hallway.
