Chapter 5: The Life They Chose

On a quiet evening, just weeks before the baby was due, they sat together on the balcony.
The city lights flickered in the distance.
“Do you regret it?” she asked softly. “Cutting them off?”
Ethan didn’t answer immediately.
He looked at her. At the life growing inside her. At the calm that now surrounded them.
“No,” he said finally.
And he meant it.
Because family wasn’t about who shared your blood.
It was about who stood beside you when it mattered most.
He placed his hand gently over hers.
“This,” he said, “is everything I choose.”
She leaned her head against his shoulder.
And for the first time—
Not just her.
May you like
But both of them…
Felt safe.