eet, the gray prison uniform replaced by ill-fitting civilian clothes. The air smelled different out here, sharp with the scent of pine and exhaust fumes, a world

t that paralyzed him felt like a lifetime ago, a different person's tragedy. The betrayal that followed, however, was a fresh wound, one that prison had only given him more time to pick at. His own family, the

down, revealing an older Asian man with sharp eyes and a calm, composed face. He was Maestro David Chen, a world-renowned

said, his voice even

is skin. He didn't speak, just stared out the window as the prison shrank in the distanc

than finally asked, his

his eyes off the road. "You need to collect

had stopped visiting after the first year. His father, Robert, had sent a curt letter telling him to accept his situation. His sister, Emily, had side

oud smile at his first recital. He remembered laughing with Emily over stupid jokes. These images felt like scenes from a movie about someone else's life. The reality w

ul-de-sac, a monument to a life he no longer recognized. It looked the same, grand and imposin

o this," Ethan said, his

t unkind. "This is a necessary step. You ca

d older, her face etched with lines of worry, but her eyes, when they met his, were dista

d, her voice tig

hen a silent presence behind him. The house smelled of lemon polis

voice. Then, they appeared in the doorway. Robert, Emily, Olivia, and Liam. They were a perfect picture of a happy family

sed to see in the mirror. "Welcome home, brother,"

their casual dismissal of his own suffering. They hadn't just replaced him; they had erased him. The five years in pris

ore the accident. The sight of it, stretched across the shoulders of the man who had ruined him, was a profound violation. It w

st. He gasped dramatically, his face paling. "My

h shrieked, rushing to his side. Robert and Emily

Robert barked, fumb

t?" Olivia cried, her

round him. No one looked at Ethan. He stood by the door, completely forgotten, a silent witness t

your family anymore," Chen said quietly, his voice cutting through the noise. "I have an offer for you. A sch

crushing weight in his chest. Vienna. It sounded like another planet. Leaving meant cutting the l

He saw his father's panicked face, the same face that had looked at him with col

rd certainty. There was nothing left for him here. Healing wa

for the first time in years. "I'll go," he

. He would build a new life from the ashes of the old one