Her voice went sweet and girlish, as if someone else entirely had just been standing against me.

He walked in and pulled Zoe to him, kissing her like I wasn't even in the room. The wet, smacking sounds were obscene in the silent living room. Minutes passed, and when Zoe finally pushed him away her face was flushed, her eyes half-lidded.

"What are you doing? My mom's right here."

Louis barely glanced at me, pulled her closer, and kissed her again.

"We've done everything in this apartment. Now you're shy?"

I shook from head to foot. Blood taste flooded the back of my throat, and every detail I'd ever brushed aside came crashing back at once.

The cigarette smoke that would appear in the apartment for no reason.

The red marks on Zoe's neck she always blamed on mosquito bites.

The stains on my bedsheets that were never there before.

My legs buckled. I had nothing left. Nothing.

I hit the floor with a bang, and both of them turned to look.

Louis saw the state I was in and the satisfaction in his eyes deepened, but he put on a show of concern.

"You okay, teach?"

The moment he touched me, every ounce of strength I had left erupted and I threw myself at him.

"Get out! Get away from my daughter! Get out of my house!"

There was nothing left of the composed teacher. Only a mother's raw instinct.

I fought him with everything I had, hitting, clawing, wanting to bite a chunk out of him.

He was barely more than a boy, but he couldn't handle someone who'd stopped caring if she lived or died. I slapped him over and over, wanting nothing less than to take him down with me.

I was winding up for another blow when something crashed into the top of my skull. Searing pain. Blood poured down from my scalp, warm and heavy.

I turned in disbelief. Zoe was standing behind me, the wooden cutting board from our kitchen raised in both hands.

She brought it down again.

Louis scrambled to his feet in the opening, shoved me to the floor, pinned me down, and paid back every slap I'd given him.

Even that wasn't enough. He handed his phone to Zoe with a grin.

"Babe, shoot some video for me. Get it clear—I want her face in every frame."

Something flickered in Zoe's eyes. She didn't take the phone.

Louis was losing his grip on me. He shouted at her.

"Babe, have you forgotten who broke us up? We almost lost each other because of this woman!"

That was all it took. Zoe stopped hesitating. She grabbed the phone and pointed the camera straight at my face.

Louis locked his hand around my throat and laughed.

"I'm gonna let every single person in that school see their big bad discipline head getting pinned down and smacked around by me."

"Hahaha—weren't you tough? Made me drop out, called my parents in to the school—so how's it feel now, huh? Regretting it yet?"

All the strength drained from my body. I couldn't even breathe.

I was on the edge of blacking out when Zoe's phone blared with a notification. She checked it and panic crossed her face.

"We need to go. The sushi place is about to close."

The weight on me vanished.

Just like that, Louis stopped. He took the phone from Zoe, dangled it in front of my eyes, and shook it.

"Cross me again and this video goes out."

I didn't move. I lay there and listened.

Zoe must have noticed something was off, but she still made excuses for him.

"Mom, it's not his fault. He just loves me too much."

"He's going to be your only son-in-law. Just forgive him."

They walked out hand in hand, off to their date.

I lay on the floor watching them leave, laughing and crying at the same time, blood and tears running together into the same ugly puddle beneath my face—the sound coming out of me barely human.

This was the daughter I'd poured everything into raising. The daughter I would have given up anything for.

Maybe my laughter was too unsettling, because it drew the neighbor from next door. The moment she stepped inside and saw the state I was in, she called an ambulance.

When I woke again, I was in the hospital.

Maureen Finch had been waiting. The relief on her face when she saw my eyes open was instant.

"Ms. Chavez, what happened? Did someone break in?"

I shook my head, held myself steady until the room stopped tilting, then pulled together something that might pass for a smile. "Maureen, your son works in real estate. Could you ask him to list this apartment for me?"

Maureen froze. "That apartment? I thought you were saving it for your daughter's wedding. Why would you sell it?"

I shook my head again. "Zoe could end up working anywhere. She won't need it. And I need the money."

Maureen tried to talk me out of it, but I wouldn't budge.

"Are you sure? The market's down right now. You'd take a real loss."

I nodded without hesitation. "I'm sure. The sooner, the better."

Less than thirty minutes after we finished talking, Maureen's son called. He said he already had a client looking for a resale unit. If the timing worked, they could come see the place this week.

I told him yes. That same day I put in for the rural teaching program—a post in the mountains, as far from here as I could get. One month, and I'd be gone.

I checked out of the hospital that same day. When I got home, Zoe was sitting on the couch watching a drama.

She heard the door open. Her voice was pure disgust.

"Ugh, there's blood everywhere. You couldn't even mop it up? That's gross."

Whatever I'd once felt for her was already dead. I looked at the stains on the floor, went to the bathroom for the mop, and started cleaning. After all, someone was coming to view the apartment.

Only then did Zoe notice the gauze wrapped around my head. Her expression shifted into something strange.

"You actually went to the hospital? That's a bit much. Louis said it just looks worse than it is—he wasn't even trying."

I almost laughed. She didn't even realize the wound on my head wasn't from him.

I ignored her and kept cleaning.

Zoe seemed to feel the silence pressing on her. She turned off the TV and sidled over, planting herself at my elbow.

One look and I knew. She wanted money.

She acted like none of it had happened, hooking her arm through mine.

"Come on, just ten thousand. I wanna go to Brookhaven with Louis before school starts—literally everyone else has already been," she cooed, leaning into me.

"It's my last summer before college. You don't want me to have regrets, right?"

Before, I always made sure she had everything the other kids had. Any free time I got, I took her traveling, showed her the world. Whenever she asked for money, I gave her more than she asked for.

I was always so afraid she'd feel like she had less.

I opened my phone and sent her every last yuan in my Cash App—over fifty thousand, all of it.

The last time. The very last time I would give her money as her mother.

After this, I had no daughter.

The money hit her account and just like that she was sweet again—cupped my face in both hands and smacked a kiss against my forehead.

"Oh, Mom—I'll just go straight to college from Brookhaven. No need to come back home."

Then she grabbed the suitcase she'd already packed and headed for the airport without a single glance back.

After she left, my phone rang again. Maureen's son. His client was in a hurry and wanted to see the apartment tomorrow.

The next day, the buyer showed up right on time. The apartment was old, but it sat in a school district—exactly what he needed for his kid. He walked through the rooms once, turned to me, and said he'd take it.

I said yes without a second thought.

A week later the transfer papers came through—back to the mountain district where I grew up, back to teach.

The night before the new university term began, I walked away from the city I'd lived in for nearly twenty-five years.