Chapter 17 - One Year Later
A year passed.
The old Vance estate was almost unrecognizable.
Children ran across the lawn.
Mothers laughed near the gardens.
Counselors walked through the halls.
The swimming pool remained.
But nobody feared it anymore.
On the anniversary of the Sanctuary, hundreds gathered for a celebration.
Victoria stood on the terrace.
She watched Mia walk through the garden with Aurora.
Evelyn sat beneath a flowering tree.
The sight brought a strange ache to Victoria's chest.
For years she had built an empire because she believed power meant protection.
Now she understood something else.
Protection was not walls.
It was people.
Mia joined her.
"You look sad."
Victoria smiled.
"Just remembering."
Mia looked at the courtyard.
"Do you ever wish we could erase it?"
Victoria shook her head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Aurora deserves to know that her mother survived."
Mia smiled.
"She deserves to know her grandmother survived too."
They looked at Evelyn.
She waved.
For once, the past wasn't a prison.
It was a scar.
May you like
And scars meant the wound had closed.
---
