I returned to the hospital.
“Did you fix the rules?” Ava asked.
“Yes,” I said softly. “I fixed them.”
“Is Ethan coming back?”
“No. He’s going to a place where they teach consequences.”
My phone buzzed. Assets frozen. Offshore transfers uncovered. Federal charges pending.
I replied: No plea deals.
Weeks passed. Principal Monroe was terminated and charged. The school board apologized publicly. Daniel’s empire collapsed under investigation.
Three months later, Ava’s cast came off.
One Saturday, we drove past Daniel’s old estate. A foreclosure sign stood in the yard. Gates chained shut. The mansion empty.
“Is the bad man still grounded?” Ava asked.
“For a long time,” I said.
She nodded. “Good.”
After a moment, she turned to me. “When I grow up, I want to be like you.”
“A judge?”
“Yes. To protect kids.”
I squeezed her hand.
Daniel had meant it as an insult: like mother, like daughter.
He was right.
Like mother, like daughter.
We protect. We endure. We fight.
And we don’t lose.
