Chapter 2

The first thing I did was pack a bag. Not for a long trip, but for survival. I gathered the few cans of food we had left, a change of clothes for the kids, and my mother' s old wool blanket.

"Where are we going, Mommy?" Tom asked, his small hand clutching mine.

"We're going on an adventure," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. I had to be strong for them. The panic and rage were a storm inside me, but on the outside, I had to be their rock.

I looked around the miserable apartment that had been my prison for six years. Michael had left us here to rot, sending just enough money to keep a roof over our heads, but never enough to escape. I now knew that even that small amount would soon stop.

I remembered the notice about the severance pay. In my past life, I waited for weeks, calling Michael, getting his voicemail, believing his excuses. By the time I realized the money was gone, it was too late. Not this time.

But I couldn't fight him alone. Not from here. I was a broke, jobless woman in a dying town. I needed help.

There was only one place to turn. A place I hadn't turned to in almost a decade.

My parents.

I had married Michael against their wishes. He was a smooth-talker from a poor family, and they saw right through him. They told me he was only after a connection to their comfortable life. I, blinded by what I thought was love, accused them of being snobs. I cut them off, too proud and stubborn to admit I might have been wrong. For six years after Michael left, my pride kept me from calling them, from admitting my perfect life had crumbled.

Swallowing that pride was the hardest thing I' d ever done, second only to reliving the murder of my children. I found a payphone-our own line had been cut off months ago-and fumbled with the coins. My hands were shaking.

My mother, Martha, answered on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Mom?" My voice cracked. A flood of emotion washed over me, shame and regret and a desperate, childish need for my own mother.

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end. "Ava? Oh my god, Ava, is that you?"

"It's me, Mom," I whispered, tears blurring my vision. "I need help. I'm in trouble. Michael..."

"Where are you? Are you okay? Are the children okay?" Her voice was a torrent of concern, all the years of silence washed away in an instant.

"We're okay. For now," I said, my voice gaining strength. "But I have to get out of here. Michael... he's done terrible things."

An hour later, a sleek black car I didn't recognize pulled up in front of our crumbling apartment building. My father, David, stepped out. He looked older, his hair grayer at the temples, but he still had the same commanding presence I remembered. He was a man who ran a successful logistics company, a man used to being in charge.

He took one look at me, at my thin frame and worn-out dress, at Lily and Tom peering shyly from behind my legs, and his face hardened. He didn't say "I told you so." He just opened his arms.

I collapsed into his embrace, and for the first time in six years, I felt a flicker of safety.

We drove to their house, a beautiful, sprawling home in a town just an hour away, but a world away from my life of poverty. Martha was waiting at the door, her face etched with worry. She hugged me and the children as if she would never let go.

That evening, after the children were bathed, fed a warm meal, and tucked into a soft, clean bed for the first time in their lives, I sat with my parents in their quiet living room.

I told them everything.

I told them about the six years of struggle, of scrimping and saving, of watering down milk and patching up clothes. I told them about Michael' s broken promises and cold silence.

Then, my voice dropping to a low, cold whisper, I told them about my "dream." I couldn't tell them I had been reborn, they would think I was crazy. So I framed it as a horrifyingly vivid nightmare. I described the factory, Sarah' s smile, the sound of the machines, and Michael' s monstrous words.

My mother gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. My father listened in stony silence, his jaw tight, his hands clenched into fists on the arms of his leather chair.

When I finished, the only sound was the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hall.

"That monster," Martha whispered, her eyes filled with tears of rage. "That absolute monster."

My father finally looked at me, his eyes blazing. "The severance pay. He's going to take it all."

"He already did," I said. "In my... dream. He used it to start his business. A business built on our money."

David stood up and began to pace. He wasn't just a businessman, he had connections. He was a respected figure in the regional business community.

"This stops now," he said, his voice a low growl. "He will not get away with this, Ava. He will not harm you or those children. Not while I'm alive."

He turned to me, his expression resolute. "We're not going to let him get that money. But more than that, we're going to make him pay for what he's done to you. For every single day of the last six years."

A wave of relief so powerful it almost made me dizzy washed over me. I wasn't alone anymore. I had support. I had resources. The rage inside me was no longer a wild, helpless fire. It was being forged into a weapon.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"First," my father said, pulling out his phone, "we get you a good lawyer. Second, we find out exactly what Michael is doing in the city. And third," he looked at me, his eyes dark with purpose, "we're going to the city. You and the children will come with me. It's time to face him."

"He lives with Sarah," I said, the name tasting like ash in my mouth. "The widow of his brother."

My father's face darkened further. "Even better. We'll deal with them both."

The next day, we were in my father's car, heading towards the city. Lily and Tom were in the back, mesmerized by the built-in TV screens, a luxury they couldn't have imagined yesterday.

I looked out the window as the landscape changed from small towns to urban sprawl. I was heading back into the lion's den. But this time, I wasn't a lamb for the slaughter.

I was the hunter.