Chapter 15
Noah asked me where the card went.
We were at the Mercer estate three days later.
He sat on my office rug with a toy airplane in one hand and his backpack beside him.
Sabrina was in the next room with Rachel, talking about schools where neither Ellis nor Vanessa had access.
Noah looked up at me.
“Black card?”
I opened my desk.
It was inside.
I took it out.
He stared at it seriously.
“Mom needs.”
“Yes.”
“Because bad people?”
“Because everybody should have a way to get somewhere safe.”
He thought about that.
Then he pushed the card back toward me.
“You keep.”
I shook my head.
“It belongs to your mom.”
He frowned.
“What if I need save her?”
There it was.
I crouched in front of him.
“You don’t.”
His eyes widened.
“What?”
“You do not have to save your mom.”
He looked almost offended.
“I can.”
“I know.”
I smiled slightly.
“But it’s not your job.”
He looked toward the doorway.
“Then who?”
“Me. Her. The people she chooses. Grown-ups.”
He thought about it.
“What my job?”
That nearly broke me.
“Be three.”
Noah stared.
Then laughed.
Good.
Sabrina heard it from the doorway.
She stopped.
I looked up.
Her eyes filled.
Not dramatic.
Just enough.
Later, she sat across from me after Noah fell asleep on the couch.
“I kept thinking if I called you, Ellis would say he was right.”
“About what?”
“That I couldn’t handle my own life.”
I leaned back.
“And now?”
She looked at the black card.
“I think handling your own life includes knowing when someone is isolating you.”
I nodded.
Then she surprised me.
“I don’t want to live here.”
For one second, old instinct rose.
Protect.
Keep close.
Control distance because fear makes proximity feel safe.
I stopped it.
“Where do you want to live?”
“My house.”
“Good.”
“You’re not going to argue?”
“No.”
She studied me.
“You’ve changed.”
“Three days.”
She smiled faintly.
“Still.”
The next morning, Sabrina and Noah went home with security she chose herself.
Not men I assigned without asking.
That distinction seemed small.
May you like
It wasn’t.
The first thing control steals is often the right to choose who protects you.
