“Laura, honey, think of the babies! They need a father!” Paola shrieked, her voice cracking into a desperate wail as the police officer stepped forward to read her her rights for criminal conspiracy, document forgery, and corporate embezzlement.
“They have a family, Paola. They have the lineage that actually pays for this room,” I whispered, stepping completely out of their pathetic reach. “Enjoy the space.”
I turned on my heels and walked out of the St. Vincent clinic into the fresh, brilliant afternoon air, leaving the sound of their frantic screaming, weeping, and mutual accusations firmly in the dark behind me. The parasites who had spent years treating my devotion like free domestic labor had finally exposed their own corruption, completely blind to the fact that when you try to dismantle the foundation of the person who sustains your accounts, the entire roof comes crashing down on your own head. The ledger of the past was permanently balanced to zero, the contract was torn, and my real life was finally ready to begin.
