Chapter 10%
Callie’s POV
We left the grocery store in a silence so loud it felt like shouting.
Sophie clung to my arm like she was afraid I’d vanish if she blinked too long.
Marcus followed behind us, unsure if he was part of this moment or just a witness to something sacred being reclaimed.}
The second we reached the car, Sophie climbed into the passenger seat without asking. She was still shaking, her fingers twitching in her lap.
I looked at Marcus over the roof of the car. His mouth opened, then closed again.”
“She can stay with me tonight,” I said, not asking. “I’ll call you tomorrow.“}
He nodded. Not as her father, not as the man I once loved, but as someone who knew he no longer had the answers.
We drove in silence until I pulled into the driveway of Aunt May’s place. Sophie didn’t get out immediately. She stared out the window, her voice so small I almost missed it.
“I didn’t want to remember.“W
I didn’t push her. I just waited.
She turned toward me, tears gathering but not falling. “It wasn’t… big. Not like the things you see in movies. But Ava… She said things. When you left. The whole two weeks, I endured everything. She’d say how easy it’d be for me to disappear. That no one would notice. That even my real mom left because of me.“W
My knuckles went white around the steering wheel.
“She told me if I didn’t stop crying, she’d lock me in the attic. Just for a little while. Said that’s how I’d learn my lesson.“}
Rage surged so quickly I thought I might throw up. “Sophie…”
“She never touched me. Not like that. But she didn’t have to.”
I exhaled. Slow. Careful. So I wouldn’t scream and scare her more.
“I believe you,” I whispered.
And finally, she cried.
Later that night, I sat in the hallway outside the room Sophie now slept in, her arms wrapped around a pillow like it was the only thing she
trusted.
I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t think. Every minute ticked louder than the last.”
I picked up my phone. I needed to do something, anything. My fingers hovered over his name. I didn’t press it.
I stared at it for a long time. And then the phone buzzed.”
Incoming call: Marcus.
I answered.
“She’s okay,” I said before he could speak.
“I’m not,” he replied. His voice sounded raw.
He was quiet for a moment.
“Did she say what happened?” he finally said.”
“Yes.”
Another pause.}
“She said Ava threatened her. Manipulated her. Lied to her. Made her feel invisible.“}
I could hear the grief unraveling in his breath.
“I should’ve known,” he whispered. “I should’ve seen it.”
“You didn’t want to.“”
“I let her stay in our house, I let that happen to Sophie because I thought, what? That it’d fix something?”
“Because you were scared,” I said. “And too proud to say you needed help.”
He didn’t deny it.”
“She told me she only felt safe when I was home,” I added.
Marcus’s voice cracked. “Is she safe now?”
“She’s sleeping,” I said. “But she’s not okay. None of us are.”
The silence that followed was heavier than any fight we’d had. And then Marcus said something that felt like peeling skin.
“She carved Isabelle’s name into her desk.”
My heart stopped.
“She locked herself in her room that night, that night you left. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t call because I thought I could handle it. But I couldn’t.”
“That’s why you let Ava stay,” I said. “You thought a warm body in the house was enough. You thought she wouldn’t know the difference.” He let out a shaky breath. “I thought I was doing the right thing. Until I realized the only person who ever did the right thing was the one I
212 45.0%
let walk out.“}
I blinked back something hot. “Then why did you let me go?“>
“Because I was a coward.“”
We sat in silence again, miles apart but bleeding in sync.
“She’s not okay,” I repeated. “But she’s trying. And so am I.”
“Do you hate me?“!
“No,” I whispered. “But I don’t trust you.“}
His voice cracked. “I’ll earn it. Whatever it takes.”
“Then act like it.”
He nodded like I could see him. “What do we do now?”
I looked down the hallway to the room where Sophie slept, her breath finally even.
“Now we start over,” I said. “But not for us. For her.”
And right as I hung up the phone, Sophie’s voice called from the room, shaky and soft.
“Mom?”
I rushed in.
She sat up in bed, her face pale. “I femembered something else.“}}
“What is it, sweetheart?”
“When Ava told me you weren’t coming back, she said… she said you left because you didn’t love me anymore. That you said I was just someone else’s kid.”
My chest splintered.}
“I never said that,” I whispered.
“I know,” she said. “I just needed to hear you say it out loud.”
So I did.
I told her she was mine. I told her no lie could ever change that. And when I tucked her in again, I kissed her forehead like I’d done when she was three, when she still thought I was magic.}
As I stood to leave the room, her voice stopped me again.
“She had something,” Sophie said. “She took one of your letters. She kept it. I saw her hide it in her bag.”
¡ froze.}
“What letter?“}
“I don’t know. But it had your name on it… and Isabelle’s.“}
2/2
