The decision came to Aryyah in the quiet hours of the morning, when the mansion was still and silent and she lay awake in the guest room staring at shadows on the ceiling; she had spent another sleepless night replaying everything in her mind, the DNA results, Monica's arrest, Jackson's cold satisfaction, and she realized with absolute clarity that she couldn't stay anymore, couldn't pretend anymore, couldn't keep drowning in a marriage that had never been real to begin with.

She waited until ...