Nia

The taxi ride home felt surreal. The city blurred past the windows—familiar streets I hadn’t seen in weeks now felt like fragments from another life. The smell of rain clung to the air, heavy with the scent of wet asphalt. I should have felt relieved to be heading back, but a knot sat in my stomach, twisting tighter with every mile.

Lucas had been reluctant to let me go, his jaw set as if every muscle in his body resisted the idea of me leaving his side. But I’d insisted—told ...