Zoe's POV
Ever since I moved to Lakeside, my life had been anything but still.
It wasn't a whirlwind in the way people liked to romanticize change—no reckless adventures, no glittering moments wrapped in laughter and ease. It was quieter than that. Sharper. A slow succession of events that never asked for my permission before reshaping me.
Experiences that carved into me patiently, deliberately, until I had no choice but to grow stronger or break completely.
Lakeside taught me lessons I hadn't been ready for.
It taught me that life doesn't come with fairness clauses. That pain doesn't knock before entering. That sometimes survival has nothing to do with bravery and everything to do with timing.
I had seen reasons to give up.
A million of them.
And yet, I had also seen just as many reasons not to.
Life hadn't been kind to me—but it had spared me. Offered me another chance when it didn't have to.
I could have died in that robbery.
Hell, I could have been the dead twin.
