For months, I had wondered whether I would ever laugh without feeling guilty. Whether I could love anyone again without searching every smile for a hidden motive. Whether the woman who had climbed into that SUV believing she was safe could ever become someone who trusted her own judgment.
I didn’t have all the answers.
But I was no longer afraid of the questions.
Before Tobias left, I took my father’s letter from the drawer where I kept it. The paper had softened along the folds, and the ink had faded slightly, but his words remained clear.
Never confuse loyalty with silence. And never mistake a charming man for an honest one.
I placed it in a frame beside the window.
Then I returned to my desk and opened the day’s reports.
Outside, a ship’s horn sounded across the harbor.
For a moment, I was back beneath the river, feeling the water close over my head, believing that my life was ending because the person I trusted most had decided I was worth more dead than alive.
