I stood in the penthouse suite on the 124th floor, staring at James Alexander Reed—a stranger who now held the title of my husband.

Tall and imposing, his piercing green eyes peeled away my defenses, layer by layer. The air thickened, pressing against my skin. My heart slammed against my ribs—fear, fascination, or both? Confidence cloaked him like armor, but beneath that rigid stance, something flickered. Restraint. Control. A quiet strength that shouldn’t have felt safe—but somehow, it did.

Exhaustion clung to me, sinking into my bones. The wedding I once dreamed of had twisted into a nightmare, leaving me hollow. My thoughts spun, slipping through my grasp.

Reality pressed in. Disbelief and confusion tangled, thick as smoke. No turning back. No escape. I was bound to a stranger now.

The moment replayed, razor-sharp.

“It’s done.”

James’s voice cut through the silence. I saw his fingers move, calm and precise, as he folded the marriage certificate, handing it to his lawyer.

That single motion had sealed my fate.

I turned to the glass panels, caging me in, pressing my palms against the cold surface. Below, the city sprawled, a restless ocean of lights shifting and alive, but my vision blurred. The skyline smeared like watercolors dissolving in the rain.

Up here, New York’s relentless hum disappeared, swallowed by distance and glass. Silence pressed in, heavy and absolute. My thoughts drifted, untethered, adrift like a paper boat on a black sea. My world had changed, my future stretching vast and uncharted as the wind wove between skyscrapers.

Each invisible gust tugged at me, relentless and unseen, pulling me deeper into the unknown, toward a path I couldn’t yet fathom.