Chapter 134
She couldn’t keep track of time anymore. it didn’t matter. She sat curled in a corner of the room, knees drawn up to her chest, her head was resting against the cold metal wall.
Her eyes stung from crying, but the tears had stopped coming out.
They were really gone. Out of Willowcrest. Out of everything they’d ever known. Out of reach.
It was over.
The Turners, a name that once clung like dirt to their backs, was now erased from the town.
Mia closed her eyes and whispered the name that ached at the center of her heart. “Alex…”
She couldn’t stop thinking about him.
Did he know?
Was he looking for her now? Did he go to her house? Was he calling her endlessly, confused and panicked?
Alex had said he wanted to tell her something. He wonders what it was about.
What is he doing or thinking right now?
She wiped a hand over her face.
Will he be able to trace what happened to them to his father?
She shook her head
Charles Blackwell was smart, brilliant even in his cruelty.
Across the room, her mother was rummaging through the black bag.
“At least that devil gave us something to survive with,” Lily muttered, folding her arms.
“That’s a lot of money,” Ethan added quietly, peering into the bag.
“It is,” their mother said, zipping it back up. “Enough to start again… wherever this ship takes us.”
Ann let out a sudden, sharp laugh.
The sound startled everyone.
They all turned to her.
Ann wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand. “It just… it really feels like a bad dream. I was in bed, wrapped in my blanket, and now I’m on a ship in the middle of God knows where. My whole life just disappeared.in an hour.”
No one said anything.
“That’s it, you know?” she continued. “People in Willowcrest won’t have to hear about the Turners anymore.”
Lily gave a dry chuckle. “They’ll probably celebrate.”
1/4
That’s an exaggeration. Then again… it’s Willowcrest. It won’t surprise her.
Mia stayed quiet.
They had been treated like trash their whole lives. Looked at like gum stuck to the soles of clean shoes. No matter how hard they tried to blend in, they were always reminded of their surname
“They treated us like dirt,” Ethan said under his breath.
Lily rolled her eyes. “You sold drugs to half their kids. So, yeah. We kind of deserve it.”
Ethan turned to her, his jaw tight. “Same with you to be honest… You and Ann slept with every guy who offered you money or jobs in that Willowcrest”
“You bastard?” Lily snapped.
“Go to hell,” Ann fired back
The silence that followed was tense, the kind that builds a wall between people even when they’re sitting inches apart.
Then Ann said something that dropped like a bomb.
“Maybe we should blame Mom.”
Mia lifted her head, stunned. She wasn’t the only one. All eyes turned to Mary Turner. No one breathed. They expected her usual shouting. Her denial. Her anger. Her usual defense: “I did what I had to do.”
But she didn’t shout.
She didn’t even flinch.
She just looked down at her hands and said quietly, “Maybe I did fail you.”
The room went silent.
Mia blinked.
Did their mother just admit that?
I pushed too hard,” Mary continued, her voice low. “I pushed all of you into the wrong things.”
Her voice cracked.
“I thought that was the only way to make it, to make it out of that life, to have a better life.” She let out a tired sigh. “That’s all I knew”
Mia couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I should have protected you all better. I should have loved you more. I’m sorry.”
None of them spoke. They didn’t know how to.
It was the first time Mary Turner had ever admitted fault. The first time she looked like she wasn’t fighting the world with her teeth bared.
The first time she’s admitting of being a bad parent or even seeing something wrong with the lives they loved in
2/4
Willowcrest
The silence that filled the small room was heavy, almost suffocating.
“Mom, are you okay?” Lily asked, voice low, uncertain.
Their mother chuckled, but it wasn’t a light sound. It was dry. “I’m fine.”
But no one believed her. Not at first. They stared, waiting for her usual sharp voice, the biting sarcasm, the explosion they had come to expect after any emotional moment. Where she screams prank.
Who is this and what did she do with their mom?
After a long pause, she finally said something none of them expected again.
“Let’s forget about our lives in Willowcrest,” she said slowly, her voice sharp and steady.
“Let’s start over. We can’t live the lives we lived in Willowcrest in this new place we are going to. We can’t put a stain on our name again. We never expected this, and we never wanted it, but we can take this as a chance to start over.”
It was like a breath they didn’t realize they were holding suddenly escaped their lungs.
“Ethan,” she continued, looking directly at him. “You will stop with the drugs. There has to be something else you want to do. A dream, maybe. Something that makes you want to live.”
“A dream?” he asked, almost under his breath, as if he didn’t believe he had the right to one.
“Yes,” she said gently. “It’s okay not to have one right now. But think about what you would love to do, what you’d love to wake up to every morning. When you find it, chase it.”
Ethan said nothing, but he nodded. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
She turned to Lily and Anna next, her gaze softening but not losing its weight. “Same with you two.”
Lily scoffed. “What am I supposed to do?” Her tone was less sharp than usual, less defensive. It sounded almost like a real question.
“You’ll figure something out,” their mom said simply. “Both of you. But it has to be something you’re proud of. Something that builds, not destroys.”
And then she looked at Mia.
Mia had been quiet this whole time, her arms wrapped around her legs, her chin resting on her knees. She had barely moved since the ship started sailing.
“Mia,” her mother said, drawing her full attention. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I tried to push you to be like me. To be like your sisters.”
Mia stared at her, blinking slowly. This wasn’t her mother. This wasn’t the woman who had yelled and scolded her for not being ambitious enough, for dreaming of college instead of hustling for money. This was someone else, a mother she had. never met before.
“That school you’ve always wanted to go to?” her mother added. “You have my full support.”
Mia felt her throat tighten, her chest swell with something unfamiliar.
She opened her mouth to speak, but the words wouldn’t come.
