The plane touched down in New York just as dawn broke over the city.

Amara’s fingers tightened around the armrest as the captain’s voice came through the speaker. “Welcome to New York.”

The words hit harder than she expected.

For a moment, her breath caught. She hadn’t heard those words in three years. Not since the night she’d walked away from everything — her home, her husband, her old self.

Now she was back. Not as the woman who had been broken, but as the woman who had rebuilt herself from the pieces.

The skyline came into view — tall, sharp, endless. It looked exactly the same, yet everything inside...