Chapter 23: The Reckoning Begins
The penthouse lights are low when I walk in. Just the warm glow from the living-room lamps and the city bleeding through the windows like spilled gold. Bella is on the couch, knees drawn up, wrapped in one of my old sweatshirts that swallows her whole. Lydia sits across from her, tablet in hand, speaking in that quiet, measured way she has when she’s trying not to scare someone. They both look up as the elevator doors slide open.
Bella’s eyes find mine first. Relief flickers there, then worry, then something sharper—anger at whatever she sees on my face.
“You’re back,” she says, voice soft but steady. She pushes off the couch and crosses the room in three steps, hands coming up to frame my face like she needs to make sure I’m real. Her thumbs brush the s
