Chapter 37: Race Against Time    

A few weeks had passed, and during that time, I had been amassing wealth at an almost alarming rate.

My life had become eerily peaceful—so peaceful, in fact, that a growing unease settled in my chest. It was too quiet. Too calm.

Something's coming, I thought to myself, brushing off the uncomfortable feeling. Maybe a storm was indeed brewing around the corner.

After all, Sophie's eighteenth birthday was fast approaching—the day I had been waiting for, the day I would finally taste the sweet, long-denied freedom I craved after all these suffocating years.

My pulse quickened just thinking about it. Every second dragged with agonizing slowness, but the six-month countdown was almost up. Soon, everything would change.