“I’m not alone,” I said, looking past her toward the staircase, where Chloe’s little pink backpack still sat—proof of a love that was pure and real and entirely untouched by anything they’d ever done.

“I have Ethan’s truth. And I have my dignity. That’s more than any of you will have where you’re going.”

She sneered, turned on her heel, and marched down the driveway toward their luxury SUV.

I closed the heavy oak door and locked it.

I walked back into the living room and sat down on the sofa where Ethan used to read, pulling Chloe’s favorite stuffed bear into my lap. For the first time since the accident, the weight of the grief felt like something I could carry.

The air in the house felt clean.

The empire my mother had built in my name was about to face a reckoning she couldn’t bribe or vacation her way out of. And sitting there in the quiet, surrounded by the memories of the only two people who had ever truly loved me, I knew I was finally free.

THE END.