Racked with shame, she headed off to the hospital, making a special stop along the way to pick up something she wouldn’t have considered buying only days before.

As she entered the hospital, she could feel the eyes of the entire staff judging her. She knew that everyone suspected she had administered tainted rhino horn to her son. When the doctors initially confronted her the day of Joshua’s poisoning, they said there had been other cases of strychnine poisoning attributed to rhino horn in recent weeks. Audrey had maintained her silence during the doctors’ questioning, knowing that her son had stabilized and that the dirty truth of the deal she had made with the devil would help no one. The only thing she could do at this point was make some changes in how she lived her life.

Audrey entered Joshua’s room and handed him a plastic shopping bag. The boy opened it, revealing DVDs for various Marvel superhero movies. He lit up. “I thought I wasn’t allowed to watch these until I was older.”

“They say they are for people over thirteen. You’re close enough.”

Audrey gave her son a bittersweet smile, wanting him to enjoy what little time he may have left on Earth now that all therapeutic options seemed to be dead ends. She would quit being so obsessed with his future and focus on making the most of the present. The choice to abandon the rigid lines she had drawn felt freeing, and Audrey sensed that it would lead to some broader changes in how she lived her life—even beyond just her relationship with her son.

Joshua lowered the bag of DVDs. “Do you think the police are going to catch the person who poisoned me?”

Audrey paused, unsure how to answer, then placed a hand on her son’s shoulder. “Of course they are.”

That evening, the euphoria of her personal breakthrough faded, replaced by something darker. Someone had poisoned the rhino horn in Hong Kong. They had nearly killed her son, and they would kill others. And no one was following up on it, because her incident technically never happened. It was clear to Audrey that the path to atonement led through vengeance. She would find the people responsible and she would bring them to justice, regardless of whatever personal fallout might land on her.