KAI
The hum of the plane’s engines created a steady rhythm that somehow intensified the silence between us. I leaned back in his seat, casting a glance at Bella, who sat across the aisle with her gaze firmly fixed on the sleeping figure of Cora beside her. Her eyes held a mixture of worry and exhaustion, and though I longed to reach out to her, I kept my distance, respecting the unspoken boundaries she had put up between us.
In the dim light of the cabin, Bella looked more vulnerable than I had ever seen her. She wore her strength-like armor, a shield that kept everyone at arm’s length. But now, after everything I had learned about her past, I saw the weight she carried—sorrow, betrayal, and the lingering scars of heartbreak. It stirred something deep within me, a fierce desire to
