“This is crazy,” she said to herself. She opened her car door and made her way up. She called Messiah one more time along the way. Voice mail. The phone wasn’t even ringing on his end anymore, and she was sure he had turned it off to avoid her calls. She wasn’t getting Yara and Messari back until he felt like returning them. She prayed it wouldn’t be too long. She wanted them home, not because she wanted to keep him from them longer but because she needed them. She needed to talk to him about what being their parents meant. His anger was so great that she was certain any chance they had to make their relationship work was gone. Just the way that he was ready to condemn for one mistake turned Morgan off. Messiah had done so many things to hurt her. He had crushed her time and time again, but the expectation was always forgiveness. Messiah wanted her to look past all his ill deeds, wanted her to love him like nothing had ever happened, and Morgan would have tried. She would have because he wanted her to, but this one sin of hers was judged heavily. This one mistake. This one thing that she had done to him, he judged harshly. Morgan could never forgive the hypocrisy of it all. The expectation that she could be hurt time and time again, yet she was cut off for hurting him once. He didn’t even try to hear me out. Didn’t even give me a chance to explain.

Messiah’s judgment didn’t feel good.

Morgan placed the key into her door and pushed into her apartment. Her breath hitched when she saw the candles and flower petals that decorated her living room. Bash sat hunched over on the couch, and upon hearing her enter, he looked up. She had expected anger, but she saw nothing but worry on Bash’s face.

“You’re going to leave me, aren’t you?” Bash asked.

Morgan didn’t know how she was supposed to answer that question. If she was honest, he would get angry. If she lied, she would add another chain that kept her enslaved to him … indebted to him. Her eyes misted. It was never supposed to be this way with Bash. She had let things get so far out of hand.

“If I say yes, what’s going to happen to me and my family, Bash?” she asked.

Bash placed praying hands over his nose, blowing air into them as his eyes focused on the blank space in front of him.