One year after the wedding, Layla sat with Ethan on the porch of a quiet cabin and reread her grandmother’s letter beneath the sound of wind moving through the trees. Her parents had sent vague cards, and Ava had offered explanations without genuine accountability, but Layla no longer confused contact with repair or blood with safety. The photographs from her wedding still showed the empty seats where her parents should have been, yet they also showed Jenna beside her, Ethan waiting at the altar, and friends who had stayed when the day stopped following the plan. Layla had once believed the wedding was the moment her family abandoned her. With time, she understood it was also the day she stopped abandoning herself. Her parents had chosen Ava on the most important morning of Layla’s life—and it became the final decision they were ever permitted to make with Layla’s name, money, or future.