Chapter 180

• ELORA
• Gemma and I stepped out of the hospital entrance just as the soft hum of streetlights began to flicker to life above us. The sky had faded into a rich indigo, and the breeze carried that familiar New York chill, weaving through our coats and tugging at the ends of our scarves.
• There was a sense of relief in the air—the kind that follows a successful surgery, the kind that makes your limbs feel lighter even after a long, emotionally exhausting day. The scent of roasted peanuts and hot dogs from a vendor across the street drifted into the air, blending oddly with the sterile scent of the hospital behind us. My shoulders, which had been knotted with stress all day, finally started to loosen.