Josie
I shut the door behind me with a soft click, leaning my back against it as though the wood might absorb the whirlwind inside my head. My chest rose and fell, the weight of everything pressing down on me—Michelle's shadow over my family, the constant battles that drained me, the gnawing thought that maybe, just maybe, I was losing myself while trying to protect everyone else.
I stripped out of my clothes, my fingers fumbling more from agitation than from any real need to undress quickly. My body was bare, but my thoughts were louder than the silence of the room. They swarmed and crashed like waves against rocks, relentless, refusing to quiet.
I needed help. That much was clear. No matter how hard I fought Michelle, she always seemed to find another way in, another way to claw her hold into my family. And I couldn't—wouldn't—let her destroy what I'd built, what I loved.
My lips pressed together as a decision solidified in my mind. I'll ask Liam.
