Marco
The estate we stopped at looked ahead, its stone facade weathered by years of abandonment. I hadn't come here in years, not since the last time I needed to disappear. The memories weren't kind, but I didn't need kindness right now. I needed my fucking clarity. The place always had this way of stripping everything down to bare nerves, like the wind off the cliffs was trying to peel back whatever armor I still had left.
Leona's silhouette emerged from the passenger seat as my men opened the door for her. She stepped out slowly, eyes scanning the empty stretch of land and stone before us. I kept my face still, impassive, though inside, I was searching. For what, I wasn't sure. The air smelled of rain and the faint scent of seaweed carried up from the cliffs, mixing with the faint diesel from the car that still idled behind us. My men would pull away once we were inside, leaving us truly cut off from the world for a while. That was the point.
