Setting Myself Free Novels & Stories

The only way to be free. So I keep walking. Keep leaving. Keep choosing myself. And try not to hear his voice calling my name behind me. Try not to feel the bond stretching. Breaking. Screaming. Try not to let myself turn around. Go back. Give in. Give up. Because that's not love. That's surrender. And I didn't survive everything just to surrender now. Just to lose myself keeping him. Just to accept beautiful poison dressed up as devotion. I choose myself. I choose freedom. I choose ME. And that's enough. Has to be enough. Will be enough. Even if right now it feels like dying.

Of finally getting past everyone standing in front of me scrutinizing everything that I do. *TICK* Four… Free of all the judgmental stairs and whispers, and from being the perfect princess with a certain image to uphold. *TICK* Three… Free from being wanted simply because of my title, to be responsible and trusted without all the never-ending questions. *TICK* Two… Free of all the protection measures and attempts to keep me locked away for my own safety. *TICK* One… Free to get dirty, and chase fireflies. *TICK* Zero… Free to be me.

Was I? I closed my eyes. The images of that day—the car accident, the hospital room, the three of them with their ugly faces—flashed through my mind. When they deceived me, they hadn't shown the slightest reluctance. Jason used to say I was soft‑hearted. I had believed I wouldn't be able to let go. I smiled, but my eyes were ice‑cold. "The desire to cut everything off now outweighs any reluctance I might have had. Jason thinks he can toy with me at will. Then it's time I send him a very special gift."

My fingers clenched into the linen sheets, white-knuckled and trembling. “If he doesn’t need me anymore…” I swallowed hard, the taste of bile and salt in my throat. “…then I’ll set him free. And maybe… I could finally breathe again.”

I leaned back in my seat and added, "I'm giving you a chance now. Say the magic words. Break up with me. Don't worry. If anyone asks, I'll tell them that you were the one who dumped me so that won't hurt your ego anymore, right? Now, come on, say it. Say we're done so I can finally go home and sleep."

Talia's POV. My heart kept pounding against my chest as I was left alone. I thought he would be back in a jiffy but it took more than a minute. And I didn't let that minute pass by without trying to set myself free for the millionth time. I wriggled my hands and my legs. I shook my body violently but there was nothing I could do to set myself free. Whatever kept him occupied, I wished it would keep them busy for a long time until I was finally free.

"Yes! I'll give you absolute power. Anything you want, it's yours." "What I want?" I stood and walked to the window, looking down at the bustling city. "Dexter, do you know what I want now?" "What?" "Freedom," I said, turning to face him. "The freedom from being defined by anyone else's choice. The freedom to be my own." "Noelle…" "You know," I cut him off, "for the last three months, I have thanked the Moon Goddess every single day for that yacht explosion. It set me free from a gilded cage."

Not today, not ever again. I turned on my heel and walked toward the door, each step feeling like liberation, like chains falling away. My hands trembled slightly, not from fear, but from the adrenaline coursing through my veins, from the weight of finally standing up for myself, from burning every bridge behind me and not looking back. The club that had once been my salvation had become my prison, and I was finally breaking free. Let them find another golden goose to pluck. I was done being their cash cow, done dancing to their tune while they counted their profits and ignored my humanity.

At the party, friends teased us, asking when Rosalie Diaz and I would finally get married. I looked at her, smiling. She said nothing, and stiffly changed the subject. The friend who'd started the teasing glanced at me awkwardly, apology in his eyes. My smile didn't waver. I took a sip of my drink. I've always been a bit of a procrastinator, though not a hopeless one. So I decided to let Rosalie go. And to let myself go, too.

I didn't want a penny. For Kaelen, this agreement was entirely to his benefit. I couldn't even think of a reason for him to refuse. I was tired; I didn't want to fight anymore. Leaving cleanly was the fastest way to freedom. The knowledge was in my head. I could create more things. Kaelen looked at his own signature at the bottom of the document. It was his handwriting, yet he couldn't recall when he had signed such a thing. He tore the Mating Dissolution Agreement into pieces in a rage, muttering to himself.