Chapter 13: The True Cost of Freedom**
"You tried to erase me," Elena said, her voice steady and calm. "You looked into my eyes every morning, handed me poison, and watched me slowly slip away."
"I kept you comfortable," Mark said, a chilling glimpse of his sociopathy breaking through. "I made sure you didn't feel the panic."
"You made me doubt my own sanity," she replied. "You stole years of my life and tried to make our son an orphan."
Mark leaned closer to the glass. "You won't survive out there without my network, Elena. The firm will settle, but you'll be marked forever as the woman who destroyed the Mercer name."
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Elena placed the phone handset back on its cradle without another word. She stood up, squared her shoulders, and walked toward the heavy steel door. For the first time in ten years, she felt completely clearheaded, her mind sharp and unburdened by fear.
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