Emilia's POV
The cab ride from the airport to my new life felt like an eternity. Each bump in the road seemed to jolt me further into the reality I didn’t quite want to face. I had left everything behind—my mother, the only family I had, my home, my old life—and now all I had was the promise I made her. A promise to finish school, to become something better, something she could be proud of. But the ache in my chest was a constant reminder that she wasn’t here to see it through with me.
I swallowed the lump in my throat as the city’s skyline came into view. New York. The city that never sleeps. The city that had once felt like a dream when I visited with Mom all those years ago. Now it felt like a place where people’s dreams went to die. But I wouldn’t let that happen. Not yet.
I had enr
