After leaving the mansion, I couldn't shake the weight in my chest. His words, his gesture… it was too much. Too dangerous. If I let myself get caught in his kindness, sooner or later it would destroy me.
That night, I called every one of my employers.
"Yes, sir… I'm sorry, I can't come tomorrow. I have an emergency."
"Boss, I need to quit. Effective immediately."
"I'm grateful, but… something came up. Please understand."
Excuses, excuses. They pressed for reasons, but how could I explain? I found a man too kind for his own good, and if I keep working like this, I'll drag him into my mess. No one would believe me anyway.
By the time I ended the last call, my hands were trembling. Quitting all my jobs meant cutting the last ties I had to normalcy. But maybe it was safer this way.
I have to quit from all of my jobs and places that he thinks I would be there. I feel bad for quitting all of a sudden, but it's safer this way. I know the people who killed my family before are out there lurking and looking for me too. There's no safe place for me.
I sank onto the bed, clutching my phone like it could anchor me. The room felt too quiet, every creak of the walls too loud. My reflection in the window stared back at me—stranger's eyes, stranger's face. "Amy," I whispered to myself, as if saying the name out loud would make it real. But even that name wasn't mine. Not truly.
And North… he didn't know. He couldn't know. He must never know.
Because the moment someone learns who I am, it always ends the same way—blood, fire, ruin.
I shut off the light, curling into the dark. Safer. Quieter. Alone. That was the only way to survive.