The Price of a Sunrise
Chapter 8 - Dawn Over a New City
An hour later, Claire’s car was packed.
She didn't look back at the grand stone facade of the estate, nor did she look at Vincent, who stood on the front steps in the fading afternoon light, broken and utterly alone.
She drove away from Henderson, away from the casinos, away from the glittering, hollow promises of Las Vegas, heading west toward the quiet stretch of highway leading out of the desert.
The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, painting the sky in brilliant streaks of orange and violet.
It wasn't Red Rock.
It wasn't the sunrise she had once begged to share with a man who didn't value her.
It was just the evening, quiet and unburdened, stretching out endlessly before her.
Claire rested one hand gently over her stomach, feeling the lingering ache of her loss, but alongside it, an unfamiliar, fierce strength began to take root.
She had survived the night.
And as she pressed down on the accelerator and watched the desert blur past her window, she knew she was finally ready to face the morning on her own terms."
