A WHILE AGO•••
[Elijah]
I fled, my legs moving faster than my mind could process, my breath coming in ragged gasps. My heart pounded against my chest like it wanted to escape—like it understood the betrayal I felt, the rage boiling in my veins. The corridors blurred around me, but none of it mattered. All I could focus on was the face that had haunted me without my realizing it, the man whose existence I had cursed for as long as I could remember. Ryder. My father.
He didn't even know who I was.
That fact alone was more sickening than it was a relief. How dare he? How dare this man, who had shaped the misery of my entire existence, look at me like I was a stranger? Like I was just another face in the crowd? My life was a wreck because of him, because of the choices he made. He had ruin
