Chapter 10 - The Horizon
The sun was setting over the city, painting the sky in strokes of bruised purple, fiery orange, and deep, tranquil gold.
Claire stood on the balcony of her fourteenth-floor apartment, holding a glass of crisp white wine. The city below hummed with its endless, chaotic energy, but up here, the air was cool, clean, and entirely her own.
The phone on the patio table buzzed once.
It wasn't an emergency alert. It wasn't a threat from Derek’s lawyers, who were currently negotiating the terms of his surrender and impending trial plea.
It was a text from Lena: “Table for two at the rooftop bistro across town in twenty minutes? I’m buying, and you’re celebrating the rest of your life.”
Claire smiled.
May you like
She walked back inside, pausing in front of the hallway mirror. There was no frosting in her hair. There was no blood on her lip. There was only a woman who had walked into the fire, stood in the center of the flames, and emerged with the keys to the kingdom.
She picked up her coat, locked the door behind her without a single backward glance, and stepped out into the bright, open world.
