Chapter 6 — A Safe House

It’s been two years since that afternoon.

We never spoke to Lorraine again. Paige and I decided together to cut all contact.

Predictably, Lorraine tried to run a smear campaign back in Chicago — telling her circle her ungrateful children had abandoned her.

But Paige, with a ruthless clarity I’ll always admire, sent the nursery video to a few key members of our extended family.

The whispers stopped overnight. Lorraine’s carefully built social empire collapsed from the inside.

Brooke’s recovery took time. The physical wounds healed in a few months; the psychological ones needed gentler, longer care.