Ivy was still reeling from the voice in her head, still trying to make sense of it...

When it happened.

Bang.

A toy car slammed into her stomach.

The pain was sharp and immediate. She sucked in a breath and curled both arms around her belly on instinct.

"Were you even LISTENING to my father?"

Jack stood three feet away, his face twisted with the self-righteousness of a child who had always been told he mattered most.

"My dad was TALKING to you. You’re so rude. You’re supposed to listen when he talks."

Ivy looked at him.

Everything came back at once.

The door, rain, his voice through the wood...

Let the monsters have them.

Those words replayed in Ivy’s mind, making something inside her go very quiet.

Very cold.

"Jack Brooks... listen carefully."

Her voice was low, sharp.

"You touch me or my daughters one more time...just once..."

She held his gaze.

"I promise you, you will spend the rest of your life regretting the day you were born."

The room went still.

This wasn’t the Ivy they knew.

The woman who endured, who softened every conflict, who chose patience until it became submission...

She was gone.

Adrian stepped forward, pulling Jack behind him.

"Ivy, have you LOST IT? He’s a CHILD. He’s ten years old. What is wrong with you?"

Maya wrapped an arm around Jack, playing her role perfectly, all while her other hand rested on her rounded belly. She was expecting her second child just as Ivy.

"He just wanted your attention. You can’t speak to a child like that.

Ivy almost laughed.

A child?

The same child who called her daughters dead weight. Who told them to be fed to monsters. The same child who laughed.

Before she could respond, a small voice cut through the tension.

"Don’t you DARE hurt my mama!"

Lila came running down the stairs, shaking but determined, planting herself in front of Ivy with clenched fists.

A second later, Aria joined her, chin raised.

"Jack, you need to apologize. You don’t treat my mama like that."

Ivy’s vision blurred.

They were here.

Alive and right in front of her.

She dropped to her knees and pulled them into her arms, holding tight, as if committing the moment to memory.

She didn’t speak.

She just held them.

Last time, I couldn’t save you.

This time, nothing touches you.

Maya watched carefully.

She knew exactly where Ivy was weakest.

"Jack," she said gently, her tone suddenly warm, "your sisters are right. Go apologize."

Then she turned to the girls, voice soft and inviting.

"Aria, Lila, you’re such good girls. Come here...your brother has candy for you..."

Ivy stood.

She moved in front of her daughters, cutting Maya off completely.

"You can have the house," she said.

"But I have one condition."

Her eyes flicked to the calendar.

Fifteen days before the outbreak.

Nineteen before her due date.

Time was already running.

"I’ll sell it for five hundred thousand," she continued. "In exchange, Adrian signs the divorce papers today."

Adrian stared at her.

"Ivy... what are you saying?"

But Maya’s reaction slipped for a moment.

Something bright. Hungry.

Gone as quickly as it appeared.

She had waited years for this.

And now Ivy was handing it over...half its value just to walk away.

"Mama..."

Aria’s voice was small.

"You’re getting divorced?"

Lila grabbed Ivy’s hand tightly.

"What about us? Where do we go?"

Ivy knelt, meeting their eyes.

"You come with me. Both of you. Always."

Her voice steadied.

"Trust me. I’ll take care of you."

They didn’t fully understand but they believed her.

And that trust hurt more than anything.

Adrian recovered enough to scoff.

"You’re about to give birth. You’re leaving with three kids, no money, no plan and you think you can handle that alone?"

Ivy looked at him and felt nothing but clarity.

"They are mine," she said calmly. "Not yours. Never were."

She stood, taking both girls’ hands.

"This is your only chance. Answer now, or I walk and the offer disappears."

"WE ACCEPT."

Maya didn’t hesitate.

She was already reaching for the documents.

"Adrian, sign it. Right now."

Jack nodded eagerly.

"Yeah! Dad, sign it. Then we can live here and they’ll be gone."

Adrian looked between them.

At Maya, Jack and Ivy.

Something in his expression shifted.

Confusion.

Unease.

She wasn’t the same woman anymore.

Not the one he had learned to control.

For the first time in a long while...

She looked like herself again. Proud, unyielding and radiant.