A year had passed since Alisha’s pregnancy with Ryan’s child was announced, and the weight of that time had reshaped me into something I barely recognized. Their son, now four months old, wailed through the house, his features a cruel mirror of Ryan’s—sharp eyes, strong jaw, nothing of me. Ryan had claimed our bedroom as his domain, leaving me on the couch, its sagging cushions a permanent reminder of my exile. The cage a...