001_Chapter_1

Maria Kimberly Romano I survived. Not because I was fearless, but because I was loved. When my world fell apart, my family held me together, my friends refused to let me disappear, and one patient boy stood beside me until I remembered who I was. Justice could never erase the past, but it gave us a future. And in the end, I learned that home isn't a place—it's the people who choose you every single day. Adam Chaker I thought I was protecting Maria. The truth is, she changed me just as much