CHAPTER SIX
LEIGH
The kitchen was the first part of it I was allowed to touch.
Everything here moved with controlled chaos. Pots clanged in rhythm with shouted orders, knives hit wooden boards in steady repetition, and heat rolled through the room in waves that made the air feel alive. It wasn’t peaceful, but it was organized in a way I understood. Survival always looked like this—too many moving parts, none of them allowed to fail.
But what I noticed first wasn’t the food.
It was the people.
And more importantly, the way one person watched me like I didn’t belong in any version of this world.
Someone called her Nina.
She didn’t introduce herself. She didn’t need to. I felt her attention before she even spoke. It followed me from the moment I stepped into the kitchen, slow and de
