All Chapters of You Left, I Could Have Fixed Us: Chapter 181 - Chapter 185

Chapter One Hundred Seventy-EightMaya’s POVThe trees began to thin as we moved forward, letting more light spill through the branches. The sun was rising now, soft gold threading between the trunks and catching on the frost still clinging to leaves and pine needles. The air warmed just a little, just enough to soften the cold in my fingers.We walked in silence again, but it wasn’t the same silence as before. The moment with the patrol had changed something. The quiet wasn’t just watchful now — it was shared.Arin walked in front with Lena, their heads close as they spoke about something practical the terrain, the slope, the best way to circle toward the foothills without leaving tracks. Their voices were low and steady. Sera was a few steps to the left, scanning the trees with that calm alertness that never seemed to leave her.Alvarez stayed behind us again, the last in line. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. His presence was a boundary. A final wall.Ethan walked beside

Chapter One Hundred and EightyMaya’s POVThe trees were blurring around me as I ran.My breath burned in my chest, each inhale sharp and uneven. The night air was cold and damp, catching against my skin. Branches scraped my arms and legs but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. The sound behind me was too close. Heavy steps. Too steady to be accidental.Someone was following.The river’s noise grew louder ahead. Rushing. Angry. I pushed toward it, my lungs tightening the more I forced my legs to keep moving.The ground dipped and I stumbled, catching myself on my hands. Dirt shoved under my nails. My knees stung but I got up again. I didn’t look back. I could feel them behind me. The cold on my neck. The weight of being watched.The water came into view through the trees, black and fast and wide. The river was always loud but tonight it felt louder. Like it knew I was about to reach it.The moonlight hit the surface in broken pieces.I stopped only when my feet reached the mud at the river’s e

Ethan’s POV (Hopeful / Open for Book Two) The first light of morning came slowly. It touched the rooftops before it touched the streets. It warmed the stones before it warmed the air. And when it finally reached the courtyard below my window, it caught in Maya’s hair like it had been made for her. She was laughing at something one of the children said something small, something ordinary and I stood there watching her like I hadn’t been starved for peace until this very moment. The city was different now. Not fixed. Not healed. Just breathing again. People walked without looking over their shoulders. The market stalls were being rebuilt one by one. Music returned first softly, on corners like the city remembered joy before it remembered its own walls. It would take time. But we had time now. I stepped outside, and the breeze off the gardens carried the scent of jasmine and stone dust. Maya heard me before I spoke she always did and she turned, her smile soft before she trie