Chapter 7 - The Seventeen ApologiesMonths later, Claire attended the sentencing.
Seventeen people sat in the courtroom.
None looked powerful anymore.
Nathan's mother cried.
Nathan stared at the floor.
One by one, they apologized.
Some sounded sincere.
Some didn't.
Claire listened.
She didn't respond.
Then Nathan stood.
“Claire.”
She looked at him.
“I loved you.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
He swallowed.
“I did.”
“You loved owning me.”
The courtroom went silent.
“You loved deciding where I went, who I talked to, what I wore, and who I could trust.”
She paused.
“And when I finally said no, you brought seventeen people to make me afraid.”
Nathan began crying.
Claire didn't.
“I don't hate you.”
He looked up.
“But I will never belong to you again.”
Then she sat down.
I watched her.
That was my daughter.
May you like
Not the woman who had arrived at my base broken.
The woman who had survived.
