Chapter: CHAPTER 186Amanda's POV EPILOGUE: I didn’t plan to write anything else, the story was supposed to have ended in the previous chapter, my bad. I was supposed to be resting. Ryan had made sure the curtains were drawn halfway, the room was quiet, Levi was asleep. The house felt calm in a way that still surprised me, calm used to feel like a trap, now it felt earned. A reward after a hard work. Still, my chest felt heavy, not pain or fear, Just things left unsaid. So I took a notebook from the drawer, an old one, the type with soft pages that bended easily. I sat by the window, legs folded beneath me, pen resting between my fingers while I stared outside. I didn’t know who I was writing to at first, I just knew I needed to let some things go. “Dad,” I began... “I don’t know why I still start with you. Maybe because you were the first man who ever made me feel safe. Or maybe because every big moment in my life still feels unfinished without you standing there, watching quietly.” “I wish
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-12-31
Chapter: CHAPTER 185Amanda's POV *Six months later.*Pain woke me before I did, It started low, deep in my body, like something tightening from the inside and refusing to let go. I shifted in bed, thinking maybe I had slept wrong, maybe it was just another uncomfortable night. Then it came again, stronger this time, stealing my breath.I gasped.Ryan was awake instantly.“Amanda?” His voice was thick with sleep and worry. “What is it?”I grabbed his wrist. “I think… I think it’s time.”The look on his face changed in seconds. Shock. Fear. Awe. All tangled together.“Time?” he repeated stupidly, then sat up straight. “Time-time?”Another wave hit me, sharper, heavier. I groaned, curling forward.“Yes,” I said through clenched teeth. “That kind of time.”Everything after that blurred into motion, Ryan was suddenly everywhere at once, grabbing his phone, calling the hospital, fumbling with shoes, asking me questions I didn’t have answers to. Levi appeared at the doorway, sleepy and scared.“It’s okay,” I
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-12-31
Chapter: CHAPTER 184Amanda's POV Airports gave me a sinking feeling at the pit of my stomach, it screamed goodbyes and things that would break hearts.The smell itself was sickening, itwas the first thing I noticed as we walked through the sliding doors together. Adam pushed the trolley slowly, Blair walking beside him with her small hand wrapped tight around his finger. She kept looking up at the big screens like they might swallow her whole, her eyes wide with questions she didn’t know how to ask yet.Levi walked close to me, his shoulder brushing my arm every few steps. Ryan stayed on my other side, his hand firm at my lower back like an anchor. I didn’t say it out loud, but I needed that touch.Adam stopped near the departure gate and turned to face us.“This is it,” he said, forcing a smile.Blair’s face crumpled.“No,” she said immediately. “You said we’d come back.”Adam crouched in front of her, his voice gentle. “We will. I promise. This is just for now.”She studied his face, searching for li
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-12-31
Chapter: CHAPTER 183Amanda's POV Peace of mind looked different when you’ve lived inside fear for too long. It isn’t laughter spilling over itself or big moments that beg to be remembered. Peace of mond is small. It is waking up and realizing your chest doesn’t feel tight. It is breathing in and not counting the seconds before something bad happens.That morning, I noticed it while brushing my teeth, I paused, toothbrush still in my mouth, staring at my reflection. My eyes looked clearer, kess hunted. My shoulders weren’t pulled up around my ears like they’d been for months. I didn’t feel like I was waiting for a knock on the door or a shadow behind me.I rinsed my mouth and leaned my hands on the sink, for the first time in a long time, my thoughts weren’t racing.Ryan was still asleep when I crawled back into bed. His arm came around me without him waking, warm and comforting, like his body knew mine needed the reassurance. I pressed my face into his chest and listened to his heartbeat, I closed my
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-12-31
Chapter: CHAPTER 182Thomas's POV Pain woke him, that had been the routine since he got here, since he stepped on the wrong foot and tried wielding the kind of power that he thought he owned.But this time around, the pain was dull, from his head to every other part of his body, sinking into his bones like cold water. Thomas lay curled on the concrete floor, his face pressed against something wet that smelled like rust and old sweat. His ribs screamed when he tried to breathe. His eye throbbed, swollen shut, someone had kicked him there earlier, maybe more than once, yesterday or the day before, time had stopped making sense in this place.A boot slammed into his side.“Get up, madman.”He groaned but didn’t move fast enough. Another kick landed, harder this time, knocking the breath from his lungs. Laughter followed, a cruel laugh, he knew the owner didn’t care if he lived or died.He pushed himself up, shaking, his hands slipping on the floor. Blood dripped from his nose, splashing onto the concrete.
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-12-31
Chapter: CHAPTER 181ADAM’S POVI was healing and healing never happens the way people describe it.There's no sudden indicator, no moment where the pain packs its bags and leaves without looking back. Healing is quieter than that, slower even, It sneaks up on you in ordinary moments, in the spaces between words, in the sound of a small voice calling your name when you didn’t know you needed to hear it “Dad.”The word still startled me.I froze for half a second every time Blair said it, like my body was checking if my heart could handle the impact. Today was no different. I looked down at her as she slipped her small hand into mine, her fingers warm and trusting.“Yes, sweetheart?”She looked up at me with those eye that carried too much experience for a child her age, yet still held innocence I was terrified of damaging. “You said we’re almost there.”“We are,” I said softly. “Just a few more steps.”The prison stood ahead of us, unwelcoming. I hated this place. Hated that a child had to step foot her
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-12-31
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