Isla POV
I don’t tell Zayne where I’m going. Not because I’m hiding it, or because I don’t trust him. But because I don’t know what I’m about to find. And I don’t think I can handle his reaction on top of mine if it’s… bad.
And something tells me it will be. My hands tighten slightly around the small box sitting in my lap as I drive. I haven’t opened it in years, not properly.
Not beyond the surface. Because everything inside it belonged to a version of my life I thought I understood. My father.
Simple, ordinary. Except now, none of those words feel right anymore. I pull into the driveway of my old house slowly. The place looks the same, like time just… stopped here.
Like nothing inside these walls ever changed, but I know better now. I step out of the car, the air feels different he
