The Cost of Freedom
The soft hum of the heater did nothing to soothe the chill in Salena’s bones. She stood by the floor-to-ceiling window of her penthouse apartment, eyes fixed on the massive media screen outside, where Alec Blackwood and his new wife Melissa were stepping out of a sleek black chopper.
The camera caught the way Alec offered his hand to Melissa — a gesture that should have been meaningless, but it wasn’t. It struck deep, cracking something in Salena that she had carefully buried for months.
Melissa looked hesitant, visibly uncomfortable, yet Alec’s expression remained unreadable behind his dark sunglasses. There was something cruel about the way he held her hand — firm, possessive, yet oddly protective. The media caption scrolled beneath the image like a blade:
“Alec B
