The plan was broken down to her very simply, the majority of her concerns addressed. If he wasn’t with her, his partner would be, and Sheba would always be there regardless of who else was with her. Her room was equipped with locks, the internet was secure, and they had an alarm system should anyone attempt to breach the premises. For the first time in ages, she felt secure enough that she wouldn’t have to sleep with one eye open. Yes, she’d still be scared, and her sleep would never be deep, but the urge to drink as much caffeine as she could physically tolerate wasn’t seemingly her only solution to avoid when she was most vulnerable.<br/><br/>There was one other issue that she didn’t feel had been addressed yet, but as they moved through the house and as his tone shifted, she didn’t feel it appropriate to ask yet. Something had come back for him, and his guard had come back up and she suddenly felt too exposed to him, causing her own defenses to rise. For all intents and purposes, this is the man who’d let her sister die, now charged with her care until Rafe was handled and they could all go back to their lives, trying to salvage the remnants of their tattered lives. For her, that meant trying to move on from the only man she’d ever really had a relationship with who had effectively ruined that for her moving forward. That meant trying to mentally lay Ana to rest, to stop beating herself up for her part in her death while trying to forgive Vincent so she could have closure.<br/><br/>But how did someone move on from losing the one person who’d been a constant fixture in their life? Their best friend? Their family?<br/><br/>The day she died, a part of her died, too.<br/><br/>Moving through the house, what resolve she’d built back up in response to his shift in demeanor was threatening to crumble all over again because she was there. Ana was there in every aspect of that house. It was like her presence was engulfing her, wrapping her in a cocoon of familiarity and warmth only to then be hit with the realization that all of this was done without her. That all of this even existed because she wasn’t there anymore. Just looking at it all had her knees weak and ready to give, but she continued forward. Up the stairs with her new constant companion, she took her slow steps, focusing on the floor beneath her until they reached the top and she had to stop.<br/><br/>Ana. She was there in what was the happiest day of her life, standing beside her new husband with that same brilliant smile that’d captivated everyone around her. Sofia used to joke that it could be seen from space, it was so bright. And this day, it was so vivid in her mind that the tears rising to her eyes were unwelcomed, difficult to swallow when she regained her ability to walk, to breathe. Had it not been for the feeling of Sheba’s warmth at her side, she’d have remained transfixed on the image, but something about her brought her back to reality and reminded her to move. Blindly following where he’d wandered to, she found her room and it was just bad as the rest of the house.<br/><br/>“Thank you,” the woman replied barely above a whisper. The air around them was so thick with unspoken emotion that she had to break it. If she didn’t, the hysterics would start and there was no telling what would follow after that, or if she’d even still be welcome there.<br/><br/>“I, um…I do write mainly from home, but I have meetings with my publisher…I have appearances…press to do for my latest book…I know that I cannot do everything anymore, but I can’t stay here, either. Not until this is settled as we don’t know how long that’ll be…I don’t want to live as prisoner because of him…” Her voice was unsteady, her eyes transfixed away from him. “In your honest opinion…do I need to avoid everything until this is over? I don’t want to wait to live…”