Our Story, Rebuilt

a silent, solid presence in the chair across from me. He had ordered food, but I coul

ark said gently, pushing a pla

d. "He's out there, M

zzed. An unknown number. My h

u miss

d filled with a chilling amusement.

s number?" I demande

"I own everything, remember? I let you have your little game

the background. He was somewhere nearby,

you wan

ow you have it. Ben told me you came back for it before you fa

into another piece of his sick narrative. "There is no diary!" I

your face on every billboard from here to the coast. I will make sure you can never show

hun

He was backing me into a corner, using

, his expression gri

tightened. "He's t

es: What is she hiding?" The narrative was clear: I was a killer who had faked her own death to escape justice. My architectural achiev

mous life was gone

door. Mark answered it. It was Ben, l

g. He's just watching the news reports, talking to the 'system.'

stem?" M

A voice. It tells him things. It told him you were alive. It told

I wasn't fighting just Liam, but something else entirely. Something tha

d me, but the pressure was mounting. One afternoon, he went out to get supplies

ng again. I

decision?" he asked,

ary," I said, m

s a click, and then a new voice c

d. "My daughter... she's sick. He said you're a mo

"What are you

r's treatment. But he said he'll stop if you don't

He wasn't just destroying my reputation. He was using a sick child as a pawn, painting me as the villain in som

my humanity, to make me into the monster he needed me to be. And the mo