Chapter 3

The first few weeks were a delicate, suffocating dance. I played the part of a quiet, withdrawn teenager, still reeling from her parents' divorce. It was an easy role to feign. The house was a minefield of unspoken rules and shifting allegiances, and Karel was the landmine at its center.

She seemed to find my very presence an irritant. It was more than just the awkwardness of a new step-parent situation; it was a deep, simmering resentment that radiated from her in cold waves.

I tried, at first, to be pleasant. A strategic "good morning." A quiet "thank you" for the meals my father cooked-because Karel did not cook. My efforts were met with a wall of icy silence. She would look through me as if I were made of glass, her expression a permanent, carefully constructed mask of indifference.

My father, caught between his new love and his residual guilt, chose the path of least resistance. He would publicly side with Karel, his tone growing sharp with me if he perceived any slight on my part.

"Blake, don' t bother Karel when she' s thinking," he' d snap if I so much as walked past her studio too loudly.

But later, when she wasn' t around, he would slip me an extra hundred-dollar bill. "Here," he' d mutter, not meeting my eye. "For being so understanding."

I took the money without complaint. Each bill was a small victory, a tangible piece of my father' s guilt that I could convert into a lifeline for my mother. The self-disgust was a small price to pay. I carefully folded the cash and hid it in a loose floorboard under my bed, the stash growing with each passing week. A little over eight thousand dollars. It was a start.

The end of summer bled into the beginning of the school year, and for the first time in this new life, I felt a flicker of hope. School was an escape. It was a neutral territory, a place where I was just another student, not an unwanted piece of baggage in a toxic household.

My goal was clear and unshakeable: get into a top university, study law, and become financially independent. I would never be powerless again.

One Saturday afternoon, my father and Karel went out for the day. The moment their car pulled out of the garage, I was out the door. I took a series of buses, the route seared into my memory, back to the world I had escaped. Back to my mother.

I found her walking home from the grocery store, her arms laden with two heavy bags. The sight of her stole the air from my lungs. In just a few short weeks, the change was already visible. She was thinner, her face etched with new lines of worry. She looked tired, so deeply tired.

"Mom," I called out.

Her head snapped up. When she saw me, her face crumpled. She dropped the grocery bags, and an apple rolled into the gutter. She didn't seem to notice.

"Blake," she breathed, her hand flying to her mouth. Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn't rush to hug me. She just stood there, her expression a painful mix of love and hurt.

I closed the distance between us, my heart aching. I reached out and took her hand. It felt small and fragile in mine.

"I' m sorry," I whispered.

Her hand, the one that I remembered being perpetually warm, felt cool against my skin. It was still soft, not yet ravaged by the harsh chemicals and endless labor of my previous life. There was still time.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice thick with concern. Her own pain was secondary to mine. That was my mother. "Is he treating you well? Are you eating?"

The questions were a physical blow. I nodded, unable to speak past the lump in my throat.

"I... I can get a better job, sweetie," she said, her voice trembling with a desperate hope. "Maybe I can find a little apartment, big enough for two. You could come home. We could make it work."

I had to crush that hope, as cruel as it felt. It was a false hope that would lead her down the same path of ruin.

"No, Mom," I said gently but firmly. "We can't."

I saw the light in her eyes dim, and I hated myself for it.

"We can't afford it," I continued, forcing myself to be practical. "You haven't worked in fifteen years. The best you can get right now is minimum wage. Your apartment is a month-to-month lease in a rundown building. We' d be one missed paycheck away from being on the street. I remember."

The last two words slipped out, a ghost from another life. She just looked at me, confused and heartbroken, thinking I was talking about the lean years before my father' s business took off.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. She knew I was right.

This was my moment.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a thick envelope. "This is for you," I said, pressing it into her hand.

She looked down at it, then back at me, her brow furrowed. "Blake, what is this? I can' t take your money."

"Yes, you can," I insisted. "It' s eight thousand dollars. It' s a start."

"Where did you get this?" she asked, her eyes wide with alarm.

"He gives me an allowance. A very generous one. This is what I' ve saved."

She tried to push the envelope back into my hands. "No. This is for you. For your clothes, your school supplies..."

"I don' t need it," I said, my grip firm. "You do. Mom, listen to me. This isn' t a gift. It' s an investment."

She stared at me, her confusion deepening.

"You can' t work for other people," I said, my voice low and urgent. "You need to work for yourself. Think. What are you good at? What do people always compliment you on?"

She shook her head, lost. "I don' t know... I' m not good at anything."

"That' s not true," I said. "Your cooking. Everyone loves your cooking. Your lasagna, your apple pies, the cookies you used to bake for my school bake sales."

A flicker of memory, of pride, crossed her face.

"Start a small business," I urged. "A food stall. Or a delivery service for home-cooked meals. You can start small, from your kitchen. This money is your seed capital. To buy ingredients, to get the permits, to print some flyers. Be your own boss. No one can fire you. No one can exploit you."

I was laying out the blueprint for a future I had seen her fail to achieve. This time, I would be her architect.

Tears streamed down her face, but this time, they weren' t tears of sorrow. They were tears of shock, of confusion, and of a dawning, fragile hope.

"Blake..." she whispered, clutching the envelope to her chest. "You... you' ve grown up so much."

She finally pulled me into a hug, her arms wrapping around me tightly. I buried my face in her shoulder, inhaling the familiar scent of her, a scent of home that the sterile penthouse could never have. I held on, drawing strength from her, even as I was trying to give it.

"I will," she said, her voice muffled by my hair. "I' ll do it. I' ll try."

She pulled back, wiping her eyes. She tried to give me back half the money, but I refused. After a small argument, we compromised. She kept six thousand and insisted I take two thousand back for my own expenses.

When I left her that day, the weight on my shoulders felt a little lighter. As I watched her walk away, her back was a little straighter, her steps a little more purposeful.

For the first time since I' d woken up in this new life, I felt like I was doing more than just surviving. I was fighting back.