Signed Away: A Life Unbound

in my chest. I stood by the graveside, surrounded by a few of his mother's old friends an

asn't

morning, his voice

," he'd said. "Sophia and I are going to check out a

it was just "that thing for his mom," an in

tree, I saw them. Liam and Sophia. He had his arm around her, and she was laughing, her head thrown back. They wer

sion a mixture of annoyance and concern. It was one of his moments. A brief, jarring crack in his carefully constructed real

ay, my stom

ained his student loan account. She was an opportunist, and she had seen Liam's illness not as a tragedy, but as a golden t

tically pushed me out. She played the part of the devoted girlfr

ung love, while the woman who gave him life was b

and accepted their sympathies, my face a polite, blank mask. All I could think about was the promise

lking towards me, a smug smile on her

her voice dripping

d at her, sa

t's funny. He doesn't even remember her. He asked me this morn

member you, either. Not really. Sometimes he thinks you're the housekeeper. He told

worked. A hot, sharp pain flared in my chest. It felt like

g with triumph. "He's mine now. The m

ife. And in that moment, something inside me just... gave up. The figh

avy and leaden. I got into my car, my hands shaking on the st

eyes. I walked into the house we had built together, the house that now

ngle text t

ne. I'm

ack up the last fragments of my life here, to disappear,