Chapter 14: Standing Tall
216 Words
The next morning, I found Damien sitting at the kitchen table, the unopened letter still in front of him, his hands clenched into fists.
I walked over, calm but firm, and placed a cup of coffee beside him. “We’re not going to hide,” I said.
His eyes lifted to mine—tired, uncertain, but listening.
“I know what they took from you,” I continued, “but they don’t get to take your future, too. Or our child’s.”
He let out a shaky breath, then opened the letter.
I stood beside him as he read it word by word. And when he was done, he looked up at me—not broken, not angry, just... steady.
“I’m not signing it.”
Relief flooded my chest. “Then we fight.”
A slow, fierce smile formed on his lips. “Together?”
“Always.”
And just like that, for the first time in a long time, Damien chose to stand up—not as the man he used to be, but as the man he was becoming.
That evening, we met with Damien’s old attorney—one of the few people who hadn’t turned his back after the fall.
The room was dim, the air thick with tension and buried history.
- Writer
