As for me — with the settlement from the uncontested divorce, I bought a modest house on a cliff near the ocean, with big open windows that filled every room with morning light.

No hidden cameras. No venomous whispers in the hallways.

I sat on the wooden deck in a rocking chair, holding Elias against my chest. He slept, his tiny chest rising and falling in perfect peace, while the ocean folded gently against the shore below.

Sometimes journalists still track down my lawyer, asking for an interview. They always want to know the same thing: did it bring me peace?

I never grant the interviews, but I’ve always known the honest answer.

Getting the truth out was only the key that unlocked the door of my cage. The peace was walking through it — leaving the monsters in the dark, with my son safe in my arms.

THE END.