In the city of Elmira-where cobbled streets met sleek storefronts and cafés buzzed with student chatter-Dr. Joshua Bennett lived a life of quiet order. At just twenty-five, freshly graduated from medical school, he had returned to Almira University...
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AINA's POV
3:47 AM - Same night
I moved through the safe house like a ghost, my bare feet silent on the hardwood floors. Everyone was asleep—I could hear Sooho's soft snoring from the guest room, the rhythmic breathing from my mother's room down the hall. Felix had taken the couch in the living room, and I could see his silhouette in the darkness, one arm hanging over the edge, his gun within easy reach even in sleep.
My bag was already packed. I'd done it hours ago while they thought I was "thinking," stuffing clothes and essentials into a small backpack with the mechanical precision of someone who'd done this too many times before. The IDs were in the front pocket, along with the cash Felix had given me weeks ago "just in case."
PLAY THE MUSIC
I paused at the front door, my hand on the deadbolt, and looked back at the living room where Felix slept. In the dim light filtering through the curtains, he looked younger somehow, the lines of worry and pain smoothed away by unconsciousness. His dark hair had fallen across his forehead, and one of his hands was curled against his chest, fingers still bearing the calluses from years of holding weapons in my defense.
My throat tightened with a grief so profound it nearly brought me to my knees.
I set my bag down silently and crept closer, until I was standing beside the couch where he lay. Close enough to see the faint scar above his left eyebrow from the time he'd taken a bullet meant for me. Close enough to count the gray threads that had appeared at his temples over the years we'd spent running from ghosts.
Close enough to whisper the words I should have said a lifetime ago.
"I did wrong by you." My voice was barely a breath in the darkness, so quiet it wouldn't wake him even if he'd been a lighter sleeper. "I don't even remember that I liked you, Felix. The memories... they took so much from me, but maybe that was a mercy. Maybe forgetting was easier than living with what I'd done to you."
A tear slipped down my cheek and I wiped it away quickly, but more followed.
"I've wronged Joshua too. The me in me—all the different versions of myself—we've all done wrong by the people we loved." My voice cracked on the words. "Aina Virtanen loved you, Felix. I know that now, even if I can't remember how it felt. She loved you with whatever heart she had left after they broke her the first time."
I had to pause, pressing my hand to my mouth to keep from sobbing and waking him.
"And Aina Yilmaz loved Joshua. Loves Joshua. With a heart that felt whole for the first time in years, until I realized that loving him was just another way to destroy him."
Felix stirred slightly in his sleep, and I froze, terrified he would wake up and see me falling apart beside him. But he only shifted deeper into the couch cushions, his breathing returning to that steady rhythm.
