As the bailiffs led her out of the courtroom, she finally looked at me.

There was no anger left in her eyes, only a hollow, empty defeat.

She looked like a ghost, a remnant of a past that could no longer hurt us.

We walked out of the courthouse and into the bright afternoon sunlight.

The reporters were waiting on the steps, their cameras flashing, their voices calling out our names.

Liam put his arm around my shoulders, shielding me from the crowd as we made our way to our car.

We did not answer their questions.

We did not need to.

We drove out of the city, leaving the tall buildings and the noisy streets behind.

The road wound along the coastline, the blue ocean stretching out to the horizon under a clear, cloudless sky.

We turned down the long driveway to our home, the gravel crunching softly under the tires.

The house was quiet, surrounded by green lawns and the wild coastal flowers that grew near the cliffs.

Liam turned off the engine and looked at me.

“It is finally over, Audrey,” he said.