Chapter 18 - The Burned Letter
Two years passed.
It was a quiet Tuesday evening in late autumn. Liam was checking the mail when he saw a thick, cream-colored envelope. The handwriting was sharp, elegant, and instantly recognizable.
The return address belonged to Eleanor.
Liam stood on his porch, staring at the envelope. His heart gave a familiar, phantom flutter of anxiety, a ghost of the boy who used to fear his mother’s wrath.
He didn't open it.
He didn't need to read the contents to know what it said. It would be a masterclass in manipulation. A blend of victimhood, faux-apologies, and guilt trips about her advancing age. It was bait, designed to drag him back into the swamp of her control.
Liam walked to the backyard fire pit, which was still smoldering from a fire they had built the night before. He tossed the unopened letter onto the hot coals.
May you like
He watched the edges curl, brown, and burst into bright orange flames. Within seconds, the thick, expensive paper turned to gray ash, carried away by the autumn wind.
He felt absolutely nothing. No guilt. No regret. Just a quiet, profound emptiness where his mother used to reside. The cord was permanently cut.
