Chapter 66

• Lucas’ POV
• I used to know this place—Vanessa’s apartment—like the back of my hand. Every corner held memories I never asked for. The walls still wore the scent of something too familiar. The passcode hadn’t changed. It was still the date we once carved into a park bench as kids playing house in a world that was never safe.
• I carried her limp body across the threshold like a ghost reenacting the past. She was warm against my chest, her perfume mixing with the bitter tang of alcohol. I laid her gently on the couch, tapping her cheek, murmuring her name.