“Away,” I said. “I have enough money from my summer job to get a motel room for a few days. Then I’ll find an apartment.”

“I’ll come with you,” Chloe said.

“No,” I said, gently pulling my hand away. “This is your home. You need to figure out who you are without them, too. But you have to do it your own way.”

My father took a step toward me.

“If you walk out that door, Maya, you are on your own,” he said. “Not a single penny of my money will ever go to you. No college tuition. No car payments. Nothing.”

I looked him straight in the eyes.

“You already gave me everything I needed to survive,” I said, touching the scar tissue on my arm. “You taught me how to live through a fire.”

I turned my back on him.

I walked toward the edge of the patio, where the guests were pretending not to have heard us.

I stopped at the edge of the pool.

The water was warm, steam rising gently into the cool night air.