Martha
I had spent three long months missing Vander. The ache was constant, like a dull wound that refused to close. There were nights I wished I had never left, but deep down, I knew I needed that distance. For the first time in my life, I wanted to breathe without someone else’s shadow pressing down on me.
All my life, I had been defined by others. First, it was my parents. Then Alaric. Then Vander. I had never truly stood on my own, not to discover my strengths, not to confront my weaknesses, not even to learn how to love myself. I never had time to pause, to look around, to simply exist without fear. Every step I took was weighed down by the need to hold everything together, my marriage, my reputation, my secrets. Always trying, always patching, always bracing myself for the inevitab
