With Luke’s protective arm around me, we moved to the door. My mother’s voice stopped me in my tracks. “You’ll regret this, Madison,” she said, her tone cold and detached, a stark contrast to the warmth she had feigned earlier on the phone.

I turned to face her one last time, my heart aching at the sight of the woman who was once my greatest source of comfort now standing as my greatest adversary. “The only thing I regret is thinking you’d ever change,” I said, feeling a twinge of sadness for what could have been.