Paint got on the driveway, the dog, my jeans, Nina’s left shoe, and somehow Vance’s car, though he was parked twenty feet away.

Vance stared at the yellow speck on his black hood like it was a personal betrayal.

Maya laughed so hard she had to sit down.

That laugh changed the air.

It did not erase the hospital.

It did not erase the driveway.

It did not erase Isabelle’s choices or Matthew’s cruelty or Helena’s greed.

But it proved something darkness hates: darkness is not permanent.