Outside the courthouse, Robert tried one last time to regain control. “Can’t we just settle this privately now, Lena? Think of the family name.”
Lena looked at her father—really looked at him—and realized he was just a small man who had lost his audience. “The family name is on the court record now, Dad,” she said. “I think that’s private enough.”
THE SOUND OF PEACE
A month later, Lena signed the lease on a one-bedroom apartment twenty minutes from the hospital. It was half the size of her old room, but the air inside was different. It felt clean.
On her first night, she sat on the floor of her new living room, eating takeout lo mein. Her phone buzzed with one final message from Denise: You made your point. Are you happy now?
Lena didn’t reply. She blocked the number, set the phone face down, and listened to the rain tapping against her own windows. For the first time in twenty-four years, the silence wasn’t a precursor to a storm.
