(Sophie)
Two weeks had passed since I left the prison. I had not thought of Marcus again. He no longer had a place in my mind. My life was mine, and that was enough.
Now I was standing beside Alexander in the airport. The flight had been long but calm, and I felt lighter the moment we landed. The air was warm, the sky bright, and the streets outside the glass windows moved with a rhythm that felt new. It was not home, and that was exactly what I wanted.
Alexander touched my hand. “You look happy,” he said.
“I am,” I told him. “I needed this. To breathe somewhere else. To be here with you.”
His smile was small but real. “Then we will make this week about us.”
We left the airport and took a car to the hotel. The drive gave me time to watch the city pass by. Buildings rose high, some ol
