Chapter 2

I took the check from Mrs. Ashworth's gloved hand.

The paper felt thin, insignificant against the weight of my remembered suffering.

"One million is generous," I said, my voice even.

"But I have a condition."

Julian scoffed.

"You're in no position to make demands."

His mother watched me, her eyes like chips of ice.

"And what is that, Miss Vance?"

"I want an MBA," I said.

"From a good London university."

"You will fund it."

"All of it."

"And I want a guarantee of no contact."

"From any of you."

"Especially Julian."

Julian looked outraged.

"You think you can just-"

"It's a small price, Julian," his mother cut in, her gaze fixed on me.

"To ensure this... chapter... remains closed."

She gave a curt nod.

"Agreed."

"Our lawyers will arrange it."

"You will leave Ohio within the week."

The next few days were a blur of their efficiency and my detachment.

Julian stayed at a hotel.

He came back once, with Veronica Sterling.

She was exactly as I remembered from my first life's torment: blonde, impeccably dressed, her smile a beautiful, predatory thing.

"So this is the little charity case," Veronica said, her eyes raking over me, our small living room.

Julian stood beside her, looking uncomfortable but saying nothing.

"I hope you enjoy the money, dear," Veronica continued, her voice dripping with false sweetness.

"It's more than you'd see in ten lifetimes in a place like this."

I didn't react.

I was packing a small bag.

My future.

Little Ethan, my son, came into the room.

He'd been quiet, confused since the black car arrived.

Veronica knelt down to him.

"Ethan, darling, you're an Ashworth."

"You'll come with us, to your real home."

She looked at me.

"He won't need anything from... her."

Ethan looked from Julian to Veronica, then to me.

Veronica whispered something in his ear.

He picked up a small wooden toy truck, one Julian had carved for him years ago, and threw it at me.

It hit my shin, hard.

A sharp pain.

"I hate you," Ethan said, his small face twisted with an anger he didn't understand, parroting words that weren't his.

In my first life, his childish cruelty had shattered a piece of me.

This time, I just looked at him, a deep, sorrowful ache in my chest.

He was already lost to them.

Julian flinched slightly at Ethan's action but quickly masked it.

Veronica smiled.

I said nothing.

I just continued packing.

My escape was all that mattered.

Their barbs, their casual cruelty, even my son's rejection – they were just noise now.

Background to my focused, silent preparation for a new life.

I was a ghost to them already, and soon, they would be ghosts to me.