Mom picked me up and her hands felt warm and wet. As I started to regain my composure, I realized that mom was covered in blood.

She had stabbed Cedric in his back multiple times and the kitchen knife was still lodged in his neck. As the lifeless body of the man who had haunted her for so long lay sprawled on the floor, a strange mix of relief and terror painted her expression.

There was no triumph in her gaze—only the realization that she had crossed a line she could never return from. But for me, at that moment, she had transformed from a vulnerable woman to an extremely powerful human being. That feeling would shape many of the choices I would make later in life.