Seven Years a Shadow: The Stand-In's Escape novel Chapter 8

Until Mrs. Taylor found me. 

I dropped out in secret and disappeared. 

"Miss Charlotte…" 

The man blocking my way tried again, but my old friend smoothly stepped between us. 

"This is a free country," he said calmly, but there was steel in his tone.

"You don't have the right to keep my friend from leaving." 

"She belongs to the Miller family." 

"She belongs to no one but herself." 

He looked easygoing, but right now, he was unyielding, his presence impossible to ignore. 

"If you insist on stopping her, you might want to consider the consequences." 

The man hesitated for a few seconds before stepping aside. 

"Lucas told me to give you a message." 

"You'll come back." 

Something warm draped over my shoulders. 

I glanced down—it was his coat. 

"Let's go," he said. 

"No one can force you to do anything you don't want to do." 

"You're free now." 

I finally let out a breath as I passed through security.

The coat draped over my shoulders still carried Ethan's warmth and the faint scent of old books—so different from Lucas's cologne.

I pulled it off, ready to return it to him, but he didn't take it.

Instead, he asked, "What flight are you on?"

I told him, and he let out a quiet chuckle, settling the coat back over my shoulders.

"Keep it on. We're on the same flight."

"You'll have plenty of time to explain why you disappeared on me seven years ago without a word."