CHAPTER 73
CALLIE
SHAPE OF PRESSURE
I learned very quickly that freedom didn’t feel the way people described it.
It didn’t feel light. It didn’t feel relieving. It didn’t feel like air rushing back into my lungs after drowning. If anything, it felt sharp. Too sharp. Like stepping out of a dark room into sunlight so bright it made your eyes ache.
The door opened. No knock. No warning. Just the sound of metal moving and the shift in air that told me the east wing was about to remind me who was in control. I was sitting on the bed, knees pulled to my chest, counting the cracks in the wall for the hundredth time, when Helena stepped in.
She wasn’t wearing grey today. She wore white. That scared me more than Alessandro ever did.
“You’re leaving the room,” she said.
I stared at her. “Th
