Breathing a bit easier now, I realized—maybe for the first time since I’d been thrown into this hell—that I wasn’t alone anymore. Someone was actually listening. Someone was actually trying to help me get out. That someone… was him.
Still, the weight of the world hadn’t been lifted. Not yet.
“I believe you,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around myself, “but I also know how the laws can twist and tear my freedom away in the blink of an eye.”
Jacob let out a heavy sigh, one that told me he understood that feeling far too well. Maybe not exactly the same—but close enough to know it wasn’t just words between us anymore. We were in this together.
I looked toward the door, paranoid someone might be listening. I lowered my voice, shaky but determined.
“Alright then… we make a written deal. S
