Daniel looked at the broad shoulders of the investigator, then at the empty spaces on the walls where my things used to be.

“You built this,” Daniel said, his voice cracking. “You did all of this just to destroy it?”

“No,” I said, adjusting the strap of my bag on my shoulder. “I built this to give you a life. You chose to destroy it the moment you thought I was too weak to stand up.”

I walked toward the front door, the cool Colorado wind blowing my hair back from my face.

Behind me, Daniel’s phone began to ring again, the screen flashing with his mother’s name.

Just as my foot cleared the threshold, the amber lights of the SUV caught the reflection of a third car pulling into the driveway.

The headlights cut through the gathering dusk, painting the gravel driveway in sharp, white light.

It was Marcus’s heavy-duty pickup truck, the one my signature had secured the loan for three years ago.

The engine rumbled to a halt, the metal ticking as it cooled in the sharp mountain air.