The momentum caught me off guard, and my back met the wall with a force that sent shockwaves through my body. I felt a sharp, immediate agony slice through my head, followed by a warm, sticky sensation trickling down the side of my face. The room gasped collectively, a sound so unified it was as if they shared a single set of lungs.
For a moment, everything blurred—the lights, the faces, the extravagant decor. But through the haze, something remarkable happened. My vision cleared enough to lock eyes with Olivia. She sat frozen, her perfect façade cracked by a deep fissure of shock and guilt. Her eyes, usually so confident, were wide and uncertain. I could see recognition in them—she knew what the house meant to me.
