Camille: Hey sis, we found the necklace! I’m so sorry about earlier. I’ll buy you something nice to make it up. Thank you again for letting me wear it—it’s so beautiful!
Then another ping.
Kier: Black card’s on the table. Buy whatever you want while we’re gone.
I read both messages and laughed. Softly, bitterly.
This was always the cycle, wasn’t it?
Hurt me. Humiliate me. Then hand me a credit card like it was a balm for the wounds they never acknowledged. As if the ability to shop would erase the fact that I was unwanted. Unloved. Undervalued.
But not this time.
I looked around the quiet house—empty now, like a ghost town echoing with memories that didn’t serve me anymore. Today, I was finished being their shadow.
I walked slowly to the living room, retrieved the envelope I had tucked beneath the couch cushion the night before, and placed it neatly on the coffee table.
Inside were the divorce papers, and also our wedding ring.
I stood for a long moment in the doorway. One last glance. Not for nostalgia. Just confirmation.
I wasn’t coming back.