Chapter 40 A Sanctuary

• Nyssa walked out of the police station with her head held high, but her heart felt heavy.. She slipped into the backseat of the car, her mind spinning as the city blurred past the window. The streets were familiar, yet they felt foreign, as if they belonged to another lifetime.
• The destination was one she hadn’t visited in years—a house that once felt like a sanctuary. It was the place where she had spent her happiest days with her grandfather, the only person who ever truly loved her. But after his death, when she was just 13, her family had forbidden her from returning. They had given her some nonsense excuse about the house being too far, too old, and too irrelevant to their new life. But Nyssa knew better. They wanted to erase any trace of the one person who had made her feel special, to sever her connection to the only family member who didn’t see her as a burden.
• As the car pulled up to the old house, Nyssa felt a lump form in her throat. The house was worn with age, its paint peeling, and the garden overgrown. Yet it still held a quiet dignity, like a faded photograph that had once captured something beautiful. She stepped out of the car, her footsteps echoing in the silence as she approached the front door. With trembling hands, she pushed it open.