Valeria

I didn’t look back once. My guards followed a few steps behind me, quiet as always. When the car door opened, I got in without saying a word. The door shut, and the sound cut off the noise from the street.

The driver started the engine, and we pulled away from the curb. I sat in the back seat, staring out the window as the city passed by in flashes of gray and gold. My thoughts were louder than the traffic.

I replayed everything that had happened in that hospital room—the ...