Chapter 13 - Chapter 13 - Echoes of the Past
Despite the tranquility of my new life, the past occasionally sent ripples to remind me how far I had traveled. That afternoon, a quiet notification popped up on my encrypted legal portal—a standard administrative update from the federal correctional facility where my father was incarcerated.
It wasn't a letter of apology or a plea for cash; those had stopped coming months ago after the courts firmly blocked every petition. Instead, it was a copy of a mandatory rehabilitation program assessment, noting that Richard Miller had completed an anger management course and was currently working in the prison library.
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I stared at the digital document for a long moment, feeling neither anger nor pity—only a profound, detached indifference. The man who had once stood over me with cold arrogance, demanding control over my life and locking me out into the freezing rain in my house socks, was gone. In his place was merely a stranger living out the natural consequences of his own hubris.
I closed the file, locked the tablet screen, and walked out onto the wide wraparound front porch. The crisp autumn air filled my lungs, smelling of damp earth and blooming chrysanthemums. I took a deep, steady breath, letting the final remnants of old trauma dissolve completely into the wind.
