Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Walked OutThree weeks later, I left the hospital with my baby still inside me.
I didn't return to the house.
Natalie had prepared a room for me.
It wasn't large.
It wasn't luxurious.
But it was safe.
That night, I stood by the window.
For the first time in years, nobody was telling me what to do.
Nobody was criticizing what I ate.
Nobody was telling me who could enter the delivery room.
Nobody was threatening me.
I touched my belly.
“We're okay.”
Then my phone rang.
Corey.
I didn't answer.
He called again.
Then again.
Finally, he left a voicemail.
His voice sounded broken.
“Rebecca, please.”
I listened.
“I know I messed up.”
I deleted it.
Another voicemail arrived.
“My mother is making everything worse.”
I deleted that too.
Then came another.
“I need you.”
I stopped.
For years, that sentence would have worked.
I would have run back.
I would have forgiven.
I would have believed.
But now I understood something.
He needed control.
Not me.
I deleted the message.
May you like
Then I blocked his number.
It was the easiest decision I had made in years.
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