The Price Of Love, A Life Reclaimed

ted. Her family, her younger brother Leo, all of us together at a fancy mountain resort.

rgy. I played video games with him, listened to his terrible music, even went with

ft, approving look that

d, my stomach churning. "I need

his eyes glued to a ra

something raw and terrified. I ran out, my heart pounding against my ribs. A small crowd was gathering nea

t the bottom, partially buried under a heap of fallen steel beams an

silent. Then th

I had shaken just that morning, grabbed my shirt. His face was purple

ce a mask of horror and blame.

his voice trembling. Our family' s construction business, built over two generations, was finished. Contract

a word. They just beat me. I felt my bones crack. One of them kicked my leg until something snapped. Another smashed my fa

sn't mine and a permanent limp. The doctors told m

friend, Mark Johnson. They were the city's new golden couple, smiling f

all was too much. I climbed to the roof of the tallest building I could find, the wind whipping at my torn

tep off the ledge, a voi

't d

f place in this decaying part of the city. It was Sophia Anderson, the most powerfu

love you!" she shouted, her voice shaking

rehabilitation. She gave me a home, a life of quiet comfort. She was my savior, the light

odern mansion, my limp less pronounced but still a constant rem

nderson, about the Davis incident... wasn't it a

hand on th

hadn't done that, how could Mar

, her voice trembling slightly. "What about

, emotionless expression I had sometimes

ce flat. "He has a comfortable, well

vation wasn't salvation. It was just a deeper, more ca

my heart turnin

grateful, healing husband. But inside, the broken pieces of Ethan M

ve