NIA’S POV
I woke slowly, my body stiff and sore, but more rested than it had felt in weeks.
For a moment, I didn’t remember where I was. The soft sheets. The quiet hum of the air conditioning. The sunlight slipping in through sheer curtains. Everything was… calm. Peaceful.
Then it hit me.
Alexander.
I sat up abruptly, my heart lurching in my chest. The events of the night before came flooding back. His voice telling me to get my things, the way he’d looked at me with concern and something that almost felt like… care. I’d cried in his arms. Sobbed, actually. And he held me like I mattered.
I looked down at myself. I was still in the same clothes, wrinkled now, but clean. No blood. No bruises that hadn’t already bloomed days ago.
I slowly swung my legs over the bed, my feet bru
