My stomach dropped.
Someone had tried to access my online banking.
I froze my credit. I changed every password. I added extra security questions. I called my bank and set up verbal passphrases.
Jason watched me do it all, silent but steady.
“This is insane,” he muttered.
“No,” I said quietly, surprising myself. “This is who they’ve always been. I just finally stopped pretending it was normal.”
And in that moment, sitting in my safe house with cameras watching the doors, I realized the boundary I set wasn’t just emotional anymore.
It was physical.
Legal.
Financial.
Because my family didn’t just want attention.
They wanted access.
And if they couldn’t get it through guilt, they’d try to get it through force.
The hardest part wasn’t admitting it.
The hardest part was accepting what it meant:
That walking away wasn’t just a choice.
It was protection.
And I was done being the person who got hurt so others could stay comfortable.
Not anymore.
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