Chapter 4 - THE CHILDREN CHOOSE
Claire packed quietly.
Mason packed angrily.
Ethan didn't notice either.
He was too busy arranging his new life.
Sienna posted photographs from their trip.
Champagne.
Private beaches.
Luxury hotels.
Matching bracelets.
Every picture seemed designed to prove that Natalie had already been erased.
Claire saw the posts.
She blocked Sienna.
Mason did the same.
One evening, Ethan came downstairs.
“Why are you both packing?”
Claire looked at him.
“Mom told us we're moving.”
Ethan laughed.
“You're not going anywhere.”
Mason stepped forward.
“You left us.”
“I am taking you on vacation.”
“No.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“You don't tell me no.”
Mason stared directly at him.
“You told Mom she was old.”
Silence.
Claire whispered, “Dad, you shouldn't have said that.”
Ethan looked between them.
“You'll understand when you're older.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
Then she said the sentence that finally broke something inside him.
“I understand now.”
Ethan left the room.
Natalie stood in the hallway.
She had heard everything.
Mason looked at her.
“Are we staying with you?”
Natalie pulled both children into her arms.
“As long as you want.”
Claire whispered, “I want to.”
Mason nodded.
“So do I.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
For nineteen years, she had believed keeping a family together meant enduring almost anything.
Now she realized something different.
May you like
Sometimes protecting a family meant allowing the wrong person to leave it.
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