Love Was My Cage, Not Salvation

ce

should have been mine. I hid in the woods bordering the farm, the scent of pine and damp

rieving their lost adopted daughter; they were doting on their secret grandson. My mother was push

ant a small rose garden in our backyard. It was something I'd always dreamed of. She had brushe

or Dylan. She had all the

ldn't. It was that she

and her cheerful voice carried on the wind. "Mrs. Mille

r replied, her voice thick with pride. "

. What did that make me? The placeholder? The convenient, talented d

und, brought home, and given a name, but I had never truly bee

rms. He had missed so many of our anniversaries, so many birthdays, for "urgent busine

vived the system-whispered that it wasn't enough. Digital evidence could be deleted, denied, dismissed as a fabricat

I clamped my hands over my mouth, biting down on my knuck

ees. I ducked behind a large oak, my heart leaping into my throat. The truck belonged to one of the far

iled at Paige. I could see the way she rested her hand on his arm, a gesture of easy, familiar intim

ir voices, low a

ing. "After that, once the new agricultural con

t's just... Grace. I don't

"She'll be upset, but she'll have to accept it. We can't live like

. I was an obstacle to be managed, a problem to b

ining fragments of my heart. Caleb pulled Paige

air. "I'll handle Grace. She'll never

l betrayal, delivered

ing tangible. I saw it on the patio table next to Caleb's

ey went inside, their laughter echoing behind them. With my heart pounding

My own was in my pocket, an identical model. It was a

epped out, silhouetted against the warm light of the ho

hood deeper over my

He couldn't see my face, but he sensed something was wrong. His insti

I could feel his presence behind me, a suffocatin