Chapter 16 - Healing Wounds
With Eleanor legally barred from their lives and facing three years of strict probation, true healing could finally begin.
Liam and Maya started attending couples therapy. They needed to unpack the trauma of the early years of their marriage—the subtle jabs Liam had ignored, the boundaries he had failed to enforce, and the deep-seated guilt complex his mother had installed in his brain.
“I was so afraid of making her mad that I let her hurt you,” Liam confessed during one session, holding Maya’s hands while tears streamed down his face. “I promised to protect you when we got married, and I failed. I will spend the rest of my life making that up to you.”
Maya squeezed his hands, offering him a grace Eleanor never would have.
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“You didn’t fail me, Liam. You woke up. When it mattered most, you chose me. You carried me out of that house and you never looked back. That is the man I married.”
They moved out of the downtown apartment and bought a beautiful, sprawling house in a quiet suburb an hour away. They put the house in a private trust to keep their address hidden from public records. They planted a garden. They built a life entirely on their own terms, free from the shadow of Eleanor’s expectations.
