Chapter 114

• I have lived in many cages. Some with iron bars. Some made of illusions, some built from my own hope, crumbling when I realized no one was coming to save me.
• I thought I had finally escaped. That with Lucas, I had built something real. But it was all another illusion, another carefully constructed lie.
• Now, I stand on the edge of another choice—run, as I always have, or turn around and face the ghosts I spent my life running from. My mother, my aunt… they claim they have answers. But why should I believe them? Why should I listen?