for survival. I gathered the few cans of food we had left, a ch

mmy?" Tom asked, his sm

I felt. I had to be strong for them. The panic and rage were

el had left us here to rot, sending just enough money to keep a roof over our heads,

for weeks, calling Michael, getting his voicemail, believing his excuses.

from here. I was a broke, jobless

o turn. A place I hadn't t

par

r a connection to their comfortable life. I, blinded by what I thought was love, accused them of being snobs. I cut them off, too proud and stubborn

o reliving the murder of my children. I found a payphone-our own line had

ha, answered on

el

n washed over me, shame and regret and a d

reath on the other end. "Ava?

rs blurring my vision. "I need h

okay?" Her voice was a torrent of concern, all

ining strength. "But I have to get out of

father, David, stepped out. He looked older, his hair grayer at the temples, but he still had the same comman

Lily and Tom peering shyly from behind my legs, and his face h

nd for the first time in six ye

but a world away from my life of poverty. Martha was waiting at the door, her fa

l, and tucked into a soft, clean bed for the first time in t

them ev

nd saving, of watering down milk and patching up clothes. I

I had been reborn, they would think I was crazy. So I framed it as a horrifyingly vivid nightmare.

her listened in stony silence, his jaw tight, his hand

und was the ticking of the g

d, her eyes filled with tears o

his eyes blazing. "The severance

dream. He used it to start his busin

a businessman, he had connections. He was a res

"He will not get away with this, Ava. He will no

m get that money. But more than that, we're going to make him pay fo

wasn't alone anymore. I had support. I had resources. The rage inside m

we do?"

exactly what Michael is doing in the city. And third," he looked at me, his eyes dark with pu

he name tasting like ash in my m

further. "Even better. W

city. Lily and Tom were in the back, mesmerized by the built

ll towns to urban sprawl. I was heading back into the lio

the