CHAPTER 15: THE NEW BEGINNING
It's been a year since that dinner.
My mother is out of my life. She's still angry, still bitter, still blaming everyone for her own choices. But I've stopped caring.
She chose to be the villain.
I chose to be free.
Lauren sends me messages sometimes, always with an angle. A request for money, a request for help, a request for something. I usually don't respond. When I do, it's a polite "no."
Eric's been quiet since the deposition. He knows I can prove everything he said and did. He knows I have the records. He's keeping his distance.
And Derek? I don't think about Derek. He's not worth thinking about.
But my father—my father is healing.
We have dinner every other week. He's started therapy. He's learning to stand up for himself. He's even talking about moving, getting his own place, starting over.
"I never thought I could," he said last week. "I thought I was stuck forever."
"Dad, you're never stuck," I told him. "You just have to be willing to change."
"Like you did."
I smiled. "Like I did."
I still see Mason sometimes. He's at my dad's house occasionally, and the last time I saw him, he looked different. Less arrogant. More uncertain.
"Aunt Rachel," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said."
I looked at him. He was still a child. Still learning.
"I know," I said. "But you need to learn that words hurt. And once you say something, you can't take it back."
He nodded. "I'm trying to be better."
"That's all any of us can do."
I walked away from him with a strange mix of emotions—anger, pity, hope. He was just a boy, shaped by his parents' cruelty.
But he was also old enough to start making his own choices.
Maybe he'd be better.
Or maybe he'd be exactly like them.
Only time would tell.
But I'd made my peace with all of it. I'd found my strength. I'd rebuilt my life.
And I was finally, truly, happy.
THE END
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