Chapter 19 A New Beginning

• The mansion was both a prison and a sanctuary, and it felt like both. Each room I passed felt like it was trapping me in its opulent walls, and yet I couldn’t deny that there was a strange comfort in the routine it provided. The days were no longer marked by the frantic uncertainty I had known all my life—days spent running from one bad situation to the next—but they were still far from peaceful.
• I was discovering how to breathe inside these confines, even though it seemed like I had to struggle for every breath, every step. Gradually, the external world began to disappear, and I felt ensnared in a web of influence, affluence, and dominance that I couldn’t break free from, regardless of how hard I attempted.
• The mornings were consistently similar: the sun sneaking through the thick curtains, throwing golden rays onto the ground. I stirred in a space that seemed excessively silent, excessively vacant.