n't change

the cruel

by," he told me one evening, his voice calm, steady. "I've got everything covered." His hand brushed

busy," he said, as if I were incapable of making decisions for myself. When casting agents reac

a stranger and said, "She doesn't understand our level." My mother blinked at him, sile

ised me a life free of struggle, and who was I to question him? I believed that my

very suggestion I made was met with a polite but firm objection. I began to realize that the freedom I once had to make s

ing, and remind myself that my silence and obedience were not for me. They were for him. My body ached from

I'm the only one who truly cares about you." He had convinced me that the world outside was dangerous, that I co

y world darker, I realized that help had been erased. I could call no o

s naive. And I wa

presence kept me tethered to hope even when the

d, "I will protect you. I don

at love, when twisted into control,