The Charm Global security detail was discreet but omnipresent as Andreas and Snow arrived at Ravenna's opulent penthouse. It was late, but Ravenna, ever the insomniac, was awake, her face a mask of simmering rage from the latest legal filings. She was seated in her lavish living room, a half-empty glass of red wine on the table beside her, surrounded by grim-faced lawyers.
When Snow and Andreas were ushered in, Ravenna's eyes widened fractionally in surprise, then narrowed with immediate suspicion. "Well, well," she purred, her voice dripping sarcasm. "To what do I owe this late-night visit? More legal threats, Snow White? Are you finally going to stop fighting a battle you cannot win?"
Snow walked further into the room, her gaze fixed on Ravenna, ignoring her lawyers. Andreas stood a protective half-step behind her, his presence a silent wall.
"This isn't about the lawsuits, Ravenna," Snow said, her voice quiet, unnervingly calm. Her eyes, usually warm, were now cold and piercing, holding Ravenna's gaze with an intensity that made even the calculating Queen flinch.
"I know," Snow continued, each word a slow, deliberate dagger. "I know about the cream. About the bacteria. About how it… how it took him." Her voice trembled on the last word, but she held firm. "And I know he made you promise to hide it from me. To protect me from the truth."
The color drained from Ravenna's face. Her eyes, usually so confident, darted to her lawyers, then back to Snow, a flicker of genuine shock and fear replacing her usual disdain. The wine glass trembled in her hand. "What… what are you talking about?" she stammered, her voice suddenly thin, stripped of its usual power. "You're delusional. Your father died of… an illness. It was tragic, yes, but…"
"Don't lie to me, Ravenna," Snow cut her off, her voice gaining strength, resonating with raw pain and indignation. "Not anymore. Grumpy found everything. The lab reports. The last letter. The secret clause in the will."
Ravenna's jaw clenched, her eyes blazing with a mixture of terror and a desperate, cornered fury. Her façade cracked completely. "He wanted to protect you, you fool!" she shrieked, suddenly rising from her seat, her voice rising to a frantic crescendo. "He begged me! He said you couldn't live with it! He wanted you to live in peace, to be happy! And you were so reckless, so blind in your ambition! It was a monster, that cream! It killed him!"
Her face contorted, tears of genuine, albeit twisted, anguish streaming down her face. "I honored his wish! I sacrificed everything! My reputation, my relationship with you, enduring your hatred… all to keep you from the truth! And now you bring this back? You destroy his last wish, you shatter his sacrifice, you tear down everything I did to protect you from yourself!" Her voice was a wild, almost unhinged scream. She wasn't just furious; she was genuinely, maddeningly heartbroken in her own, perverted way.
Andreas stepped forward, placing a hand on Snow's back, his gaze fixed on the unraveling Queen. This wasn't the calculated villain he knew; this was a woman consumed by a desperate, pathological sense of loyalty and a warped love.
Snow stared at her stepmother, tears now streaming down her own face, but not of guilt, but of a profound, heartbreaking understanding. Ravenna hadn't just been greedy; she had been a twisted reflection of her father's love, willing to enact monstrous acts for what she believed was protection. The tragedy was deeper, more entangled than she could have ever imagined.
"You didn't protect me, Ravenna," Snow said, her voice raw with emotion. "You buried me. You imprisoned me in a lie. You took everything from me, including the chance to grieve honestly." She looked at her stepmother, no longer with hatred, but with a profound, desolate pity. "This isn't protection. This is madness."
The confrontation had stripped away the layers of pretense, revealing the raw, ugly truth behind Ravenna's actions. It was a truth that, while devastating, offered a strange, painful form of closure. But it also unveiled a new, more dangerous side of Ravenna – a woman capable of desperate acts born of twisted love and a shattered promise. And Snow, witnessing her stepmother's desperate unraveling, knew that the fight was far from over.