The city never truly slept, but Samantha did.
Or at least she tried.
The night had stretched into an endless reel of fragments — Nick's haunted eyes, Kate's trembling hands clutching her phone, and Sophia's soft, innocent voice echoing through the hallway. "Ally."
That one word had cut through her like a whisper from the past.
Now, in the quiet hours before dawn, she stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows of her penthouse, arms wrapped around herself. The skyline glittered beneath her like a bed of diamonds scattered across velvet. The hum of traffic below was a dull reminder that life continued — even when the ghosts refused to rest.
Her reflection stared back from the glass — flawless, poised, and perfectly still.
But behind the elegance, her pulse betrayed her. Her chest rose too fast, her fingers twitched when the memory came — the way Nick had looked at her last night, confused, aching, almost pleading.
