Prologue
515 Words
She left without saying goodbye.
No notes. No calls. No second thoughts.
She just packed what she could carry and walked out the door before the sun came up.
It was cold. The streets were empty. Her hands were shaking, but she didn’t stop.
She didn’t look back at the apartment she used to call home. Her younger brother and mother remained asleep while she snuck out.
There was nothing for her there anymore, just fear, debt, a ticking time bomb of a betrothed and memories she wanted to forget.
Back in Romania, everything had started to feel like a trap.
The people around her. The man who said he loved her,
The life she was supposed to live.
He wanted control. Over what she wore, who she talked to, where she went.
He smiled in public, but behind closed doors, he was different. He was scary, dangerous, and a monster.
He had power. Money. Connections.
And he made sure she knew she couldn’t leave.
But she did.
She was seventeen when her father made the deal.
One signature, and she was no longer a daughter. she was a promise. A payment.
He owed money to the wrong man, and instead of finding a way out, he handed her over.
To Victor Daramola
the man with the coldest eyes in Romania and enough power to silence anyone who said no.
She was told it was an engagement.
But it felt more like a sentence.
She left the country with a new name, a scholarship, and a suitcase full of secondhand clothes, her flight ticket and a couple of dollar notes she had stolen from her betrothed.
No one knew who she really was. That was the plan.
She was just Mira now. A girl trying to start over in a place where no one was watching her, where no one knew her and the shameful deal had father had dragged her into.
The flight was long. The city was loud. The air felt strange.
But for the first time in a while, she felt free.
She had nowhere to go at first. No family here. No friends.
But after months of searching, someone had offered her a place to stay.
A guy who barely spoke during the call just said he travelled a lot and needed someone to stay in his apartment while he was gone.
She didn’t know if she could trust him.
The stranger on the phone had sounded distant, almost bored, like she was just another name on a long list.
But right now, trust was a luxury she couldn’t afford.
She had no family waiting. No friends who knew the whole story.
No place to call home.
All she knew was that this was her only chance and she was going to take it, no matter the cost.
Sometimes, survival means stepping into the unknown with nothing but a hope that it will be enough.
She said yes. She didn’t have the luxury to be picky.
All she needed was a quiet place to breathe. To hide.
Just for a while.
- Writer
