Chapter 9 - The Order of Protection
Before the month was out, the final legal fortifications were put in place.
With Leonard in federal custody and Patricia and Bianca attempting to scrape together an existence in a cheap studio apartment across town, Marcus secured a permanent, ironclad restraining order preventing any of them from coming within five hundred yards of Sophie or me.
If they so much as texted my phone, they would be arrested on the spot.
One afternoon, while organizing the old family files in the grand mahogany study, I came across a dusty photo album hidden in the back of a filing cabinet.
I pulled it out and flipped through the pages.
Pictures of my childhood—forced smiles, rigid postures, birthday parties where nobody was allowed to laugh too loud, holidays where love was strictly transactional based on report cards and obedience. In almost every photo, I stood slightly off-center, shrinking away from my father’s heavy hand on my shoulder.
I closed the album, walked over to the fireplace, and dropped it into the grate.
I struck a match, touched it to the corner of the pages, and watched the old memories burn away into gray ash.
I didn't need their history anymore. I was writing a brand new one.
Sophie walked into the study, holding her favorite stuffed rabbit in one arm, looking bright, healthy, and completely at peace in her new home.
“Mommy? Can we bake cookies today?” she asked, a bright smile lighting up her face.
May you like
I turned away from the fireplace, walked over, and picked her up, spinning her around in the center of the spacious, sunlit room.
“We can bake as many cookies as you want, sweet girl,” I laughed, pressing my cheek against hers. “Anything you want.”
