This was for the better. This was for the better. Know it’s for the better. No, it’s for the better.

This was for the better.

It had to be.

At least that was what you kept repeating in your head as you stood in the distance; hidden within the trees and the shadows—watching a casket go down into the ground.

Your casket.

Your team stood before it—the task force. They were trying to remain strong; even as they were letting tears rivulet down their cheeks in a solemn stream.

You had to remind yourself you were doing this for them. To protect them.

To protect him.

Even if it meant hurting yourself in the process, because it was better to hurt and keep them safe, and alive.

Even if it meant faking your death.

And so as your casket was finally put in the ground; you felt relief in doing what was right.

This was right.

Right?

The days passed and turned into weeks; then months, and soon enough years.

Seven years, to be exact—of you gone.

You threw yourself into hiding, you threw yourself into a new place—used a new name, a new identity. You filled your brain with other thoughts, because every time it got quiet in your brain for one second, your thoughts were consumed with Ghost.

So, you finally decided to take a much needed break. A vacation. Enough of hiding out—it was time to let go. You decided to go to Paris.

The city of love, they called it.

Maybe you’d find it there—in the place you and Ghost spoke about visiting before.

You hoped to find closure.

You just didn’t know that’s where Ghost was headed, too.