I walked out of the company without looking back.

I couldn't.

I knew that if I turned around, if I let my eyes land on that building even one more time—the place that had been my routine, my refuge, and my prison—I'd fall apart right there.

I walked fast, my chest tight, my breathing uneven, like the air itself had become too heavy to take in.

That's when I saw him.

"Vanessa, you're back!"

Matthew's voice hit me straight in the chest. The moment I heard it, everything I'd been holdin