KAIA
The first thing I notice when I wake isn’t the darkness. Hell. That's too farfetched.
It’s the smell.
Damp concrete. Dust. That faint tang of rust.
I’d know it anywhere like it’s etched into my bones. After all, that's the same smell of Robert's basement and the orphanage’s basement.
The place he used to lock me in whenever Bethany spun one of her sugar-coated lies and he needed somewhere to stash me until his temper cooled. The same place I was locked for days when the caretakers found out I got pregnant.
Especially Robert.
And just like that, I’m back there again.
Cold floor biting into my skin. The sound of the door locking. His voice on the other side, sharp and certain that I was the problem, always trying to hurt Noah because he's male.
My chest squeezes, and for a sec
