She didn’t look back.
Evelyn kept her steps steady as she walked through the compound, feeling the weight of every pair of eyes on her—some curious, some pitying, some just watching the show unfold.
She didn’t care.
She wasn’t leaving in shame.
This wasn’t a secret escape in the middle of the night, like she had once imagined it might be.
This was her choice.
Her decision.
And it wasn’t anyone else’s to understand.
Mason and Trey had already agreed to pick her up.
She wasn’t taking much with her—just what mattered. A small bag with her clothes, the few things she’d brought here that actually felt like her own, and the pieces of herself she’d gathered back along the way.
Everything else?
She could leave it behind.
The sound of a car pulling up outside broke the quiet hum of the
