Aria Damien told me he was bringing her home. When I finally heard the car pull into the driveway, I stepped outside without realizing I had moved. The light hit the hood of the car as Damien climbed out from the driver’s side, but he didn’t look at me first. He went straight to the back door and opened it like he had carried this moment in his chest for years. My eyes followed his movements, and when he stepped aside, that was when I saw her. She sat with a blanket wrapped gently around her shoulders, her back hunched like she didn’t know how to hold her body anymore. Her hair fell softly over her cheeks, and there was a distant look in her eyes that made something shift inside me. She looked fragile, yes, but not in a weak way. It was the kind of fragility that came from surviving too much, the kind that felt raw and unprotected. Damien reached inside and eased her forward with careful hands. He held her like she belonged nowhere else but in his arms. When he lifted her, h
Last Updated : 2025-11-26 Read more