Alina’s POV
I hated that he was right.
After the call ended, I didn’t move for a long time.
I watched the rain. Counted Leo’s breaths. Listened to the sound of hiding pressing in on me from every corner.
Coming back would mean exposure. But staying gone would mean surrender.
Madam Estelle didn’t want Leo because she loved him. She wanted him because he was leverage. And leverage is only useful when the other side still has something to lose.
Sebastian was losing everything.
Which meant she wasn’t finished.
I sat beside Leo and took his hand, letting his fingers curl around mine in sleep.
“I won’t let her rewrite us,” I whispered.
Not as a mistake. Not as a scandal. Not as a weakness.
If I returned, it wouldn’t be as the woman who ran.
It would be as the mother who refused to di
