ARIA'S POV

The discharge papers felt like a goodbye I wasn’t ready to give. The hospital bed, cold and stiff as it was, had become something like a sanctuary like a strange kind of shield from reality. But as I was helped out, being wheeled out with Kane walking beside me in silence, the weight of the world began to shift again.

The car ride back to the penthouse was quiet, and stifling in a way. Like we were both holding our breaths underwater, pretending it didn’t hurt.

...