The car slowed as it rounded a sharp corner, the tires crunching over gravel. I barely registered the motion, my thoughts swirling, my heart still racing from the chaos of the escape. It was hard to grasp the reality of what had just happened—the sudden appearance of Leonard, the way he had taken me from the gates, pulling me back into a past I had tried to forget.

I glanced out of the window, the dark night swallowing everything outside the car. The headlights painted the path ahead, but ...