CHAPTER 7: A DIFFERENT KIND OF STRENGTH
On the way home, her mother glanced at her.
“You were brave.”
“I was angry,” Clara said.
Her mother smiled. “That’s where bravery starts.”
Back home, nothing looked different.
Same kitchen.
Same sunlight.
Same life.
But Clara saw it differently now.
She saw the cost.
The effort.
The quiet strength.
Her mother wasn’t perfect.
But she was strong.
Stronger than Clara had ever realized.
And for the first time—
Clara saw her not as someone under suspicion…
But as someone holding everything together.
CHAPTER 8: THE TRUTH THAT STAYED
