Chapter 193

I have the cab drop me four blocks from the house.

It is probably excessive, but my father has cameras on the main gate and a standing arrangement with the security team to flag unscheduled vehicle arrivals, and I did not sneak out of school in the middle of a Tuesday to get caught in the driveway.

The afternoon sun feels too bright on my skin, and every passing car makes me tense, like someone might recognize me and wonder why I am not at school. I pull my blazer a little tighter around me and keep my pace steady, not too fast, not too slow. Just another girl taking a long way home. Nothing to see here.

I count it as a win when I reach the side entrance without triggering anything.

The house is quiet like it always is in the afternoons when the kitchen staff have their overlap break and my mother is at her standing lunch with the charitable foundation board and Marcus runs his weekly perimeter debrief with the external team. My heart is beating harder tha