Page 51 of Refrain (Beautiful Monsters #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHLOE

I never thought dawncould be beautiful. Not after my family was torn apart. Not after mornings ceased to be a lazy affair that consisted of eating warm cereal on my father’s lap while he smoked a pipe and read from the paper.

I never thought the sunrise could be so welcome. That a day would come when I craved the sight of it. When I hoped to seemany,manymore. If only they could all be like this—reeking of smoke, death, and… freedom.

It’s been hours since we left the city and he still hasn’t told me why he came. A part of me really doesn’t want to know. Maybe Arno did something to piss him off. Maybe his choice has nothing at all to do with me.

I don’t care. For the first time in my life, I feel content to be an addict with a limited supply of her chosen narcotic.

I’ll take himany wayI can. Standing beside him, crammed within the bow of a tiny fishing boat, is enough.

I don’t even know where we’re going—Ivan wouldn’t say. But, somehow, just moving is enough.

Breathing him in is enough .

I look overat him,but his face reveals nothing. It’s just a mask of exhaustion. Regardless, his fingers tighten over my own, and in the smoldering ruins of my soul, which Piotr left behind…

I feel the stirring of something that might be hope.