Chapter 54 The Reunion That Doesn't Save

• ZOE
• Los Angeles has that false shine that blinds. Like a gold ring covering rust. The downtown streets vibrated with a life that didn’t belong to me, with laughter, engines, and LED lights that didn’t illuminate anything real. Ethan had insisted that I go for a walk, that I give myself a break from the cabin, from routines, from control. He said it as a gesture of freedom. But in my throat, that word still tasted like a cage.
• I walked alone. Without visible bodyguards, without trackers, without Ethan’s voice in my ear… although I knew that, somehow, he was still there. Watching me. Measuring every one of my steps.