Chapter 23: The Price of Being Seen
Elara thought the storm had passed.
But fame, even the reluctant kind, had its own shadows.
A week after her testimony was unsealed, a journalist camped outside their driveway. Then another. Then a drone buzzed past the kitchen window.
By the end of the week, strangers were calling her a hero.
And others… a fraud.
Aaron stood at the front door, arms crossed, glaring at the flashing cameras through the fence.
"I can't believe they're still here."
Elara cradled Leo in one arm and sipped tea with the other, exhaustion lining her face. "They won't stop until they can sell the next headline."
Aaron's eyes narrowed. "We should move again. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere they can't reach us."
Elara shook her head. "No. I won't run anymore."
That evening, she agreed to one interview. Just one.
A respected female reporter. No tabloids. No agenda.
The woman arrived with a notepad and soft eyes, sitting across from Elara in the sunroom.
"I want to tell the real story," she said. "Not just the Roths, but what it cost you."
Elara looked at Leo sleeping nearby and nodded.
She spoke about the contract marriage, the manipulation, the silence that nearly destroyed her. She spoke about the night she realized her uncle had sold her future. And the day she almost chose revenge over motherhood.
But mostly, she spoke about Leo.
And survival.
And the choice to become something more than what they expected her to be.
When the interview aired two nights later, the headlines changed.
Not from "Roth Bride Exposes Crime Empire"...
…but to:
"Mother. Survivor. Fighter: Elara Hart Speaks."
The next day, flowers arrived.
Letters.
Handwritten notes from women around the world. Survivors. Single mothers. Women in silent marriages and louder battles.
You made me feel seen.
You made me believe we can fight back.
Thank you.
Elara sat at the kitchen table, letters spread around her like petals. Her hands shook.
She hadn't meant to become anything more than a mother fighting to protect her child.
But now she was something else, too.
A voice.
Aaron came in and saw the tears in her eyes.
"Elara?" he asked, gently.
She looked up and whispered, "What if this is what I'm meant to do next?"
He didn't ask her to explain.
He just kissed her hand and said, "Then let's do it together."