5: Run

ian

velope down on Adrian's mahogany desk in his office. I wiped it down with tre

wrote the letter four times, each time

ri

this life. Don't tr

en

rry. Just the truth, which I

ark. All I brought was a bag full of clothing, my painting tools

ions like a lifeline, and the cabbie

id in a tremulous b

hts and shadows. I was on a bus that was going far from Adrian Blackwood's w

city. It was the type of area where nobody asked too many questions and every

s fla

and damaged walls. Every morning, the aroma of freshly baked bread filled my wi

the nex

she was born six months after I left. Her big, inquisitive eyes a

othing to protect her

in Street and made it a unique place. Sunlight poured in through the enormous windo

or the first

ed with color than the canvases itself. Every day spent with her seemed like a l

ere evenings when

ay awake and gaze at the ceiling. if he had made an

each one marked by a peaceful happ

u flee, the past always

the suit wa

I was drawing Lily at the park, her loc

e and a fixed look. He didn't belong here, an

side and hastily g

s I replied, "Let

lination of her head

t home, saying, "Becaus

ted long after we left the park,

ope hidden behind my

n the front, but there was no return address. With

eatly folded p

l

u. However, tim

ri

d by panic, which spread like

spent the next few days in a daze. I realized the truth, however, when the bakery ow

y trying to find

aged outside the night it occurred. Lily's small hands w

ment as I sat at the kitchen table, gazin

ood f

r this time, and I rose slo

le

voice was muffle

door, I swallowed force

om the rain but just as formidable, when I opened it. H

uldn't have come here," my voice

jaw. "You ought

ld answer, his presence

door at the end of the hall

"Please,

ing me. Elena, don't tell m

true when I felt the

antically, my voice cracking

stand perfectly." "You were afraid, so you fled.

and the guy who might destroy it all, while the storm

acing voice, "I'll ask you ag

I could no longer

ttle voice pierced the tension l

om

rway, staring at Adrian with

and froze, his

, stepping out of

it was

d stooped down to her le

ily," in a voice that was unlik

fleeing would not have been sufficient t