“I know enough,” I said firmly. “You still believe they might change, but I know they will not, and I know how to deal with people like them.”
I held her shoulders and forced her to meet my eyes.
“You are kind and you keep hoping for better, but I do not hope, I act,” I told her with quiet certainty.
When the visiting bell rang, we exchanged clothes quickly and carefully, and when the nurse opened the door, she did not notice anything unusual.
“Leaving already, Mrs. King,” the nurse asked casually.
“Yes,” I replied softly, copying Jenna’s voice as I walked out.
When I stepped outside and felt the sun on my face after ten years, it felt like breathing for the first time again.
“Your time is over, Travis King,” I murmured as I walked away without looking back.
The house in Mesa, Arizona sat at the end of a neglected street, and it looked exactly like the kind of place where hope went to die slowly.
The smell of dampness and stale food hit me before I even entered, and I knew immediately that this place had never been safe.
I saw Mia sitting in a corner holding a broken doll, and her small body looked tense like she was always expecting something bad to happen.