The day the verdicts came in, I sat in the courtroom. I watched them being led away. My father looked at me, his eyes pleading. My mother was sobbing. Erica just looked angry.
I felt… nothing. The anger was gone. The grief was still there, a dull ache, but the fear? The obligation? It had evaporated.
They were gone. The world was quiet.
But for the first time in my life, it was a peaceful quiet.
Part 6: The New Foundation
Two Years Later.
The sun was setting over the mountains, painting the sky in hues of orange and violet. The air was crisp and smelled of pine needles and damp earth.
I sat on the porch of our new home, a cabin miles away from the city, miles away from the memories of that toxic house.
In my arms, a baby girl cooed softly, reaching for my finger with her tiny hand.
Emma.
She was six months old. She had Michael’s blue eyes and my nose. She was perfect. She was a miracle we hadn’t thought possible.
Michael walked out onto the porch, carrying two glasses of lemonade. He sat beside me, his arm draping over my shoulder. He looked at Emma, a look of pure, unadulterated love on his face.
My phone buzzed on the table between us.
It was a blocked number.
I knew who it was. My father, calling from a prison payphone. He called once a month, begging for money for the commissary, begging for forgiveness, claiming he was a changed man. My mother wrote letters I never opened. Erica was silent, rotting in her cell.
Michael saw the phone ringing. He looked at me, raising an eyebrow. He didn’t tell me what to do. He never did. He just waited.
I looked at the phone. I thought about the little girl I used to be, desperate for their approval, desperate for them to love me as much as they loved Erica.
Then I looked at my beautiful daughter. I looked at the way she felt safe in my arms. I looked at my husband—the man who had stood between me and the monsters, the man who had burned down a forest to save a single flower.
I realized that family isn’t about blood. It’s about who bleeds for you. It’s about who protects you.
I picked up the phone. I pressed the “Decline” button. Then, I went into the settings and blocked the number permanently.
I put the phone down and turned back to the sunset.
Michael smiled, handing me a glass. “Who was it?” he asked softly.
I took a sip of the lemonade, the tart sweetness bursting on my tongue. I kissed Emma’s forehead, breathing in her scent of milk and baby powder.
“No one,” I said, leaning my head against his shoulder. “Just a ghost.”
