Chapter 10 — The Last Step
Two years after the fall...
I stood once more at the bottom of a marble staircase.
Not inside the Vance mansion.
Inside a domestic violence shelter.
This staircase led upward.
Toward hope.
Toward safety.
Toward new beginnings.
I had donated part of the settlement money to build the shelter's maternity wing.
Above the entrance hung a simple plaque.
For Every Woman Who Was Told She Would Never Escape.
Grace tugged at my hand.
"Mommy?"
I smiled.
"Ready?"
She nodded.
Together we climbed the stairs.
One step.
Then another.
The stairs that had nearly ended my life no longer frightened me.
Because this time...
I wasn't falling.
May you like
I was finally rising.
THE END
