ia

lf into the street, flagging down a taxi, m

the city felt

the back seat, my nails digging into the cracked vinyl, my eyes fi

mpled handful of cash at the driver and bolted

well, taking the steps two at a time because the thought

ird-floor landing, my pat

cameras and thrusting microphones, crowd

e corrupt media hounds, the kind Petra k

e reporter shouted, shovin

hem for six years?" anoth

ng to push through the wall of

aos, a heavy boot cam

pped from my grasp, shattering on the con

learly a thug planted by Petra-stepped directly i

spat, and slapped me

t snapped my h

s on my neck tore open, and I felt the sickening

up the stairs, blowing whistles and shoving the r

d sprinted down the sterile corridor, my lungs

the heavy double doors o

sound: the long, continuous, high-

lat

of the bed, staring in horror at the doctors

softly, his gaze dropping to the floor

lked up to me, her eyes glistening w

came in an hour ago," the nurse whisper

iously verbally assaulted your mother. She told her you were a home

voice trembling as she looke

anged... their coordinator called

sive wire transfer from an anonymo

tr

d my life; she had bo

owly to the side of the bed and pic

dn't

too massive,

ingle emotion, every tear, until nothin

ve taken weeks, but unbeknownst to me, Dante Russo's shadow had already fallen over my

ater, I personally carried her urn

e outskirts of town-a place far away from the suffocating s

for hours, letting the freezing, unforgiving city wind

enter of the massive cross-river bridge, the

anger, claiming a desperate emergency, and qui

t record, setting the video to a delaye

es dead and devoid of any remaining spark, bu

Aria," I sai

lood oath. His new lover, Petra, bribed an organ

uth, and I am paying to ex

ers I had stolen from the penthouse fireplace ledge just days ago-the

th a polite nod, and before they could process what w

narrow ledge, the feeling of weightlessness stripped away the city's noise, and the