The words hurt because they were true.

I stepped between them and begged Elliot to wait while I talked to his father.

But Elliot had watched me make promises before.

He knew I would plead, that Richard would refuse, and that in the end I would go quiet again.

“There’s nothing left to discuss,” he said.

He went upstairs, changed, and came back down with the duffel bag over his shoulder. When I reached for his sleeve, he pulled away, and the front door closed quietly behind him.