The sleek black car slipped through the city like a shadow, its polished body drinking in sunlight and ignoring the curious glances bouncing off its tinted windows. The outside world was loud—horns blaring, vendors calling out, the chaotic rhythm of life—but inside, silence sat between the passengers like a living thing. Even the soft purr of the engine couldn't break it.
Eliana Bennett sat stiffly in the back seat, her back barely touching the cool leather, as though even the cushions were unworthy of holding the storm trembling beneath her skin. Her warm brown complexion was flushed, not from heat, but from the pressure of emotions she hadn't dared to release. Her dark curls fell around her like a curtain, hiding the quiet devastation burning in her honey eyes. She stared out at the passing world, but she wasn't seeing it—her mind was too busy replaying old wounds, sculpting new grudges.
