Chapter 134 Defiance And Devotion

• Rachel POV
• the hospital’s haze where I’d fought to live, through the escape’s frantic sprint with Bonnie and Gabriel, through the road’s endless miles, through the Paris nights under the Eiffel Tower, through the home where Milo’s warmth greeted us, through the confrontation with Cody, whose betrayal I’d spurned, through Amelie’s tearful amends, a protector now anchoring me, even as he navigated the chaos, even as my heart fractured under the weight of what we’d lost, what we’d survived, what we’d become.
• Scarlett sat beside me, her emerald dress catching the candlelight, her hand clasping mine, her jasmine scent a comfort, her voice soft, soothing, a mother’s love that had adopted me at ten, that had faltered in Beverly Hills but flourished in Miami, that had embraced Jeremy, that had allowed Amelie’s presence, a love now wrapping around me, shielding me from the memory of Celine’s wild eyes, her glinting gun, Amelie’s crimson-stained sacrifice.