Chapter 7 A Bitter Welcome

~VALERIE’S POV~

The thick, suffocating silence hanging between us in the grand hallway was palpable. My breath hitched in my throat as I waited for the other shoe to drop. Donovan’s imposing figure loomed over me, casting a long shadow that seemed to swallow both me and Leo whole. I braced myself for a cruel demand, something designed to humiliate me or punish my son for merely existing in his pr