Esi couldn't sleep.
The note stayed tucked beneath her pillow, its words echoing louder than any nightmare.
> Ama tried to leave too.
What happened to her? What would happen if Esi tried the same?
She woke up early — earlier than the staff, earlier than Kwabena.
She changed into something simple. No makeup, no jewelry. She wasn't going as a wife today.
She was going as herself.
---
She walked to the location on the note — an old garden behind the estate, far from where guests ever wandered. Vines crawled along broken stone walls. The fountain no longer worked, but the silence felt safe.
He was already there.
The same man from the night before. He wore no suit now — just jeans and a button-down. His eyes were clear, unreadable.
"You came," he said.
"Who are you?" Esi asked.
"I'm Kwaku. My sister… was Ama Agyeman."
The breath left her chest.
"She wrote about trying to leave. What happened to her?" Esi asked, voice shaking.
Kwaku hesitated, then pulled out a small envelope. "She sent this to me the night before she disappeared. But when I came for her… they said she ran off. No one ever saw her again."
Esi opened the envelope slowly.
Inside was another letter — and a photograph. Ama smiling in the same red Kente Esi had worn just days ago.
"She told me she wanted to be free and follow her dreams but then she disappeared Kwaku whispered. "And now… you're in the same place. Same patterns. Same lies."
---
Esi looked down at the photo. Ama's smile wasn't joy. It was surrender.
She met Kwaku's eyes again. "I'm not going to disappear."
Kwaku nodded. "Then we need to move fast. Before they tighten the leash."
> Esi didn't know what tomorrow would bring.
But she knew one thing now: She had allies. And she was done playing the perfect wife.