Her Choice, My Freedom

Her Choice, My Freedom

Gavin

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The last thing I remembered from that life was the metallic taste of blood. Mark' s fists felt like concrete blocks, crushing my ribs with every blow. Through the haze of pain, I saw Sarah by the warehouse door, holding her son. She watched me die, her beautiful face blank, her eyes cold and empty. She had chosen him, the gangster, the man now beating me to death, over me. After twenty years of trying to save her, sacrificing everything, her betrayal was the final, most painful blow. Then, nothing, until a phone started ringing. I snapped awake in my childhood bedroom not aching, not broken. My old flip phone flashed a familiar name: Sarah' s Mom. I knew this call. This was the night Sarah got into trouble with Mark. The night her parents begged me to use my college savings to bail her out. Last time, I' d said yes, draining my account and giving up my dream school. This time, I took a steadying breath. "No." The line went silent. "What? Alex, what do you mean, no? This is Sarah we' re talking about." "She made her choices. She needs to face the consequences. I' m not getting involved." A weight I didn' t know I was carrying for two decades lifted. "I have my own life to think about. I' m sorry." I hung up, staring at my unbroken hands, the hands of an eighteen-year-old with a future I was taking back.

Introduction

The last thing I remembered from that life was the metallic taste of blood.

Mark' s fists felt like concrete blocks, crushing my ribs with every blow.

Through the haze of pain, I saw Sarah by the warehouse door, holding her son.

She watched me die, her beautiful face blank, her eyes cold and empty.

She had chosen him, the gangster, the man now beating me to death, over me.

After twenty years of trying to save her, sacrificing everything, her betrayal was the final, most painful blow.

Then, nothing, until a phone started ringing.

I snapped awake in my childhood bedroom not aching, not broken.

My old flip phone flashed a familiar name: Sarah' s Mom.

I knew this call. This was the night Sarah got into trouble with Mark.

The night her parents begged me to use my college savings to bail her out.

Last time, I' d said yes, draining my account and giving up my dream school.

This time, I took a steadying breath.

"No."

The line went silent.

"What? Alex, what do you mean, no? This is Sarah we' re talking about."

"She made her choices. She needs to face the consequences. I' m not getting involved."

A weight I didn' t know I was carrying for two decades lifted.

"I have my own life to think about. I' m sorry."

I hung up, staring at my unbroken hands, the hands of an eighteen-year-old with a future I was taking back.

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My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend. From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down." That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny. But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded. I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said." Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off." My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers. I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal. Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing. As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury. In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho." How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me? Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault? Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred? I would not be his victim. Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done. I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties. This was not an escape; this was my rebirth. Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.

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