Sunlight spilled across the wide windows, flooding the penthouse in soft gold.

The glass walls made the city stretch endlessly below me, glittering like a world I didn’t belong to. The sheets tangled around my legs were silk, smooth and cool, but they felt more like restraints than comfort. Everything about this place screamed luxury—marble floors, expensive art, orchids in crystal vases—but to me, it was a cage. A beautiful, suffocating cage.

I sat up slowly, pulling the robe tighter ...