He found me on the patio wrapped in a cardigan, knees pulled to my chest, the ocean stretching out black and endless under the stars. My face was wet but silent, the kind of crying that didn’t make noise anymore because I was too tired.
He lowered himself into the chair beside me, elbows resting on his knees.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
I shook my head.
“I thought the baby would fix him,” I admitted. “I thought maybe it would make him… softer. More present. It didn’t. It made him colder.”
Kei nodded slowly, eyes on the waves. “People don’t change because they have to. They change because they want to. And Cal… doesn’t want to yet.”
The honesty stung, but it felt steadier than false hope.
“What do I do?” I asked.
“Survive,” he said simply. “One day at a time. But start thinking about your exit. Even if it’s just saving money. Making connections. You’re not trapped forever.”
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“You don’t have to know yet,” he said. “You just have to believe there’s a way out when you’re ready to take it.”
He didn’t promise rescue. Didn’t offer grand speeches. He just sat beside me, quiet and solid, like a wall I could lean against without it collapsing.
Later that night, lying in bed with one hand resting over my bump, I stared at the ceiling long after exhaustion should have taken me.
A thought kept repeating itself in the back of my mind.
I have to get us out.
Before this place breaks Eli.
Before it breaks me.
Before it breaks you.
I didn’t have a plan.
Not yet.
Just something small and fragile forming beneath the fear.
Resolve.
Shaky.
Uncertain.
But alive.
Chapter 20
Cal
I finally broke.
Mom’s texts had turned into daily voicemails. At first, they were soft. Careful. The way she always approached me like I was a bomb she didn’t want to trigger.
By day five, the hurt had crept in under her voice. Quiet. Controlled. The kind that crawled under your skin.
