POV: Nova
I woke up to the smell of jasmine and rain.
Not the sterile hospital scent I expected. Not Darren's expensive cologne that always made me feel like I was suffocating. This was different. Familiar. Like a memory I'd buried so deep I'd forgotten it existed.
My eyes fluttered open. I was lying on a leather couch in what looked like a hotel suite, but not any hotel I recognized. Floor-to-ceiling windows showed the city sparkling below like scattered diamonds. A soft blanket covered me, and someone had taken off my heels.
"You're awake."
My heart stopped.
That voice. Deep and warm like honey, but with rough edges that hadn't been there when we were kids. I turned my head slowly, afraid I was dreaming.
Kai sat in an armchair across from me, his elbows on his knees, watching me w
