That day, Mom and Dad followed my figure all the way out of the apartment complex.
But the streets were crowded and the traffic never stopped, and they lost sight of me soon enough.
They never knew that my steps were already carrying me further and further away from them.
After I wrapped the brand’s modeling shoot, my social media account crossed a million followers.
My original-design studio kept a steady stream of orders, and the list of partner brands kept growing.
When graduation came, I landed a full-time designer offer from a top fashion group in a major city — a generous salary, a huge platform, and the confidence to build a brand-new life on my own terms.
Oh, and Prince Leo. He really did love my designs.
He even invited me to design the gown his mate would wear for their mating ceremony.
Yes.
He truly just appreciated my work.
Once upon a time, my sister stole my designs, and Leo’s interest in them made her think she could snag herself a prince.
Ridiculous.
I was about to move to the heart of werewolf territory.
The night before I packed up and left the small town, Mom and Dad came to my door again and again, begging forgiveness.
They clutched a check for twenty-eight thousand — the full amount of the orthodontic money they’d taken — their faces worn and full of regret.
“Elise, we know we were wrong. Favoring Tessa all these years, ignoring your shame and your pain, taking your teeth-straightening money, hitting you at the party — it was all our fault.”
“We regret it every day and every night. Please forgive us. Come home, and let us make it up to you properly.”
I took the long-overdue compensation, my voice flat and calm, my heart completely still.
“Money can replace the surgery fund you took. It can’t replace fifteen years of favoritism, of belittling, of hurt.”
“I spent my whole childhood waiting for your love, for your sympathy, for someone to stand up for me once. I waited twenty years, and in the end I understood — you never loved me. Not once.”
“From now on, we’re relatives in name only. There’s no family left between us.”
The train pulled out of the station, and the little town shrank behind the window. I didn’t look back. I had nothing to miss.
That city held all my shame, my grievances, my pain, my heartbreak, and now it was a closed chapter.
As for the three people left behind, they met the ending they’d earned.
Tessa’s plagiarism scandal spread through the local design scene. No studio would touch her. She couldn’t get into the industry at all.
She had no patience for real work. She rushed into a relationship and ended up pregnant by a man who wasn’t her mate. When the guy found out, he went off the grid and refused to take any responsibility.
Tessa dropped out and stayed home, crying and rotting away by the day. The family’s once-prized pride became the neighborhood’s favorite gossip and shame.
Mom and Dad burned through their savings taking care of a checked-out Tessa, their days falling apart, drowning in endless regret.
They’d scroll through my social media constantly — watching me thrive at work, shine in every photo, live a peaceful life — comparing every day, blaming themselves every night.
They sent me long apology letters and care packages filled with my old favorite snacks, and called to beg for peace. I refused every one.
Once a year, there’d be a polite holiday call — just distant pleasantries, with none of the warmth of family left in it.
As for me?
I survived the lonely years no one cared about. I broke free of the chains of a family that loved me last.
From the ugly duckling everyone looked down on, the one who shrank and swallowed everything — I became a swan who lived only for herself, glowing on her own terms.
And the family who played favorites, did wrong, and turned their backs on love — they were stuck in the mud of their own making, paying for it with regret and ruin for the rest of their lives.
Their suffering. Their regrets. Their love, finally, too late.
None of it had anything to do with me anymore.