And I was okay with that.

I turned around and asked, “Can I go now?”

They escorted me back outside to make sure I didn’t run into any of the boys or their parents. The first thing I did was collapse into my boyfriend’s arms and laugh and cry simultaneously, overwhelmed by emotions. Detective Villegas was there to stand outside the room, a smile tugging at her lips.

And I couldn’t help but feel that justice had been served.

That the princess had won.

And that somehow, she’d even gotten her prince.

A Year Later.

SLUT. THE WHORE OF BABYLON. Jezebel.

Emery, Nolan, and Henry are all in jail now, so these words no longer get tossed in my face when I walk down the street. Thirteen years each, the maximum the state of California usually gives a rapist. The judge had a lot to say about the boys’ behavior when he gave the verdict. Especially after more girls came forward.

Two they met in college.

Emery’s girlfriend, who admitted he’d forced her into doing things with him when they were together.

And Wren, who confessed they’d taken advantage of her one night, when she was too drunk to drive back home.

I say “boys,” but chronologically, they should be men.

They’d never be men.

Men don’t take without asking.

Men don’t abuse women.

Men. Don’t. Rape.

Mayra got her license revoked by the state, and she is now under investigation. Last I heard, she had to sell her house, because she was no longer able to pay her mortgage. Comes with the territory of not being able to practice your profession, I suppose.

My bank account still says that I’m a millionaire, but it is my soul that feels rich these days. My mother is somewhere in Anaheim, couch-surfing with former friends and calling me every now and again, begging for a dime or two. I have yet to touch Darren’s money, but when I do, I know what I’ll be doing with it. I will help others in a way no one helped me when I needed it most.

I talk to Detective Villegas. A lot. Together we brainstorm ideas of what to do with the money. How to make sure it ends up in good hands. But here are the things I would never use it for: Clothes. Homes. Cars. Expensive gifts.

This money has meaning. I just haven’t figured it out yet.

“Birthday pancakes!” Hannah yells from downstairs, and I grin into my pillow, cracking one eye open.

“I’m trying to watch my weight!” I call from my bedroom upstairs. Hannah only comes to work three times a week now, but I still pay her double what Pam did. Thanks, Darren.

“You have to have pancakes for your birthday; it’s a rule.”

“Well, rules are meant to broken!”

I take the stairs two at a time. I don’t expect to see Bane there, because I know he had some business downtown. Things have been hectic lately, with us sorting out our future in Todos Santos, Bane’s career as a pro surfer and instructor, and the fact that I bought into a partnership at Book-ish, the bookstore where I still work.

Bane is not there, but everyone else is.

And there are balloons. Dozens of them. A huge Happy Birthday banner hanging across the dining room. I smile at my tribe, feeling loved, and cherished, and giddy. Feeling loved.

Hannah. Gail. Sonya. Edie. Beck. Mrs. Belfort. Kacey. Ryan. Everyone I know and love.

Gail and Sonya are the first to approach me. Gail unlocks herself from her boyfriend Beck’s hug and walks over, scanning my pink PJ’s with amused mockery, and Sonya wipes the sleep from my eyes like the mother I never had.

“I thought long and hard what to get you for your birthday, and I decided I have just the thing for you.” Gail laughs.

“Is it a new best friend? Because my current one is sassing around way too much,” I say.

Sonya shakes her head and snakes her arm around me, gathering me into a hug.

Gail shoves a box of condoms to my chest. “Use them. My boss is an asshole, and I don’t need more of him in this world.”

Sonya shrieks in protest and waves her finger at Gail.

I take the box and put it on the granite kitchen counter.

I don’t have the heart to tell her that it is too late for that. That I haven’t taken my pills in months.

Besides, it’s so early on, I’m not even nauseated yet. I’ve only missed one period, and I still haven’t told Bane. But yesterday, when I took the test and it came out positive, I stood in front of the mirror and smiled.

My Whole Life Has Been Pledged to This Meeting with You

I hug Gail, and she puts her palm across my heart and whispers into my ear, “I’d have given you a sword, but you already own one.”

“You fucked my fucking mom.”

I drum my fingers over the glass separating me from jewelry that costs more than a five-bedroom house in Fresno. Hale rolls his eyes inside their sockets and waves me off. “I didn’t know she was your mom. When you came in that day with Jesse, I was just as surprised as you were.”