Chapter 170

• Ella's POV
• The tension in the air clung to us like humidity before a storm, thick and suffocating. No one spoke. The only sound was the faint rustling of the leaves above us and the distant call of birds in the trees. Roshan’s sharp gaze still weighed heavy on Marcel, like a silent challenge neither of them voiced aloud.
• I could feel Marcel stiff beside me, his posture rigid, his jaw tight. Selena stood awkwardly between us all, her bright smile faltering ever so slightly as the atmosphere grew more strained by the second.