Chapter Forty-Five
The silence of the bedroom was the first thing that greeted me every morning. For three days, I woke up to an empty, cold bed. The sheets on Jake’s side still carried the faint, fading scent of cedarwood and leather, but the warmth was entirely gone. Without him, the room felt less like a sanctuary and more like a beautifully decorated cage. I sat on the edge of the mattress, staring at my bare feet against the dark wooden floor. Every muscle in my body felt heavy. I had barely slept, spending the nights tossing and turning, listening to the wind howl against the windowpanes and the distant, lonely sound of the compound security guards walking their rounds. My eyes drifted to the bookshelf in the corner. The dusty green motorcycle manual sat perfectly in place, hiding t
