CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX - CALLED FOR A VISIT
I should’ve stayed in the house.
That thought echoed in my head as the car rocked sharply over a pothole, my wrists burning against the ropes that bound them.
But just hours ago, I was smiling.
I’d crept out quietly after lunch—no grand exits, no notes. I told the guards I was just getting some fresh air and walked straight past the hedges with a lightness I hadn’t felt in weeks. Vincent hadn’t seen me. Dan had been in the garden sketching. It was the perfect moment.
My pockets jingled with loose change. My phone had a screenshot of an online wishlist I remembered from Dan’s birthday last year.
Sketchpads.
Oil paints.
Modelling clay.
He loved sculpting more than he admitted. And I—I wanted to surprise him. Maybe it was guilt, or maybe it wa
