The plan wasn’t perfect.
It wasn’t even safe.
But it was all we had.
Adrian whispered it to me in the dark, the shadows of my bedroom pressing close around us like eavesdroppers. His hand clasped mine, steady but urgent, his voice low so the walls themselves couldn’t betray us.
“Two hours,” he said. “Daniel sleeps heavy when he works late. We’ll take the old service exit. It leads straight to the back field—he probably hasn’t even noticed it’s still open.”
I swallowed hard, my pulse thundering in my ears. “And then what?”
“Then we run,” he answered simply. “As far as we can before he even knows we’re gone.”
The thought both thrilled and terrified me. I’d imagined leaving so many times, but never with a map, never with a hand pulling me forward. Always with fear, always alone. But no
