Chapter 10 - The Phoenix Rises
Half a dozen heavily armed state troopers swarmed aggressively into the small VIP room.
They completely ignored Rachel and immediately tackled a screaming Daniel violently to the expensive carpet.
Chloe collapsed entirely into a pathetic, sobbing heap in the corner as an officer forcefully secured her wrists with cold steel handcuffs.
Arthur Sterling was loudly arrested entirely outside in the grand ballroom, publicly humiliated in front of the entire city elite for massive corporate extortion.
Rachel stood perfectly tall and completely silent, watching the terrifying monsters who had destroyed her life get dragged away to prison.
She gracefully turned off the live broadcast, taking one final, incredibly deep breath of truly free air.
Two years later, Rachel walked confidently across a massive, brightly lit stage in New York City.
She was wearing a stunning, custom-designed dress that beautifully highlighted the healed scars on her arm and neck.
The massive crowd erupted into deafening applause as she proudly accepted a national award for her incredible advocacy work.
She had successfully founded a highly lucrative, global cosmetics brand completely dedicated to severe burn survivors and trauma victims.
Her incredibly proud parents were sitting in the very front row, their hardware store entirely saved and completely thriving.
Daniel had been legally sentenced to forty agonizing years in a maximum-security federal prison without any possibility of early parole.
Rachel finally had the beautiful, immensely successful, and completely peaceful life she had always truly deserved.
She returned to her luxurious hotel suite that evening, feeling entirely exhausted but incredibly happy.
She walked over to the small mahogany desk to check her daily stack of fan mail and business letters.
One plain, completely unmarked envelope immediately caught her eye, bearing a highly distinct stamp from the state women's penitentiary.
The extremely messy, erratic handwriting absolutely did not belong to Daniel.
May you like
Rachel tore the letter open, her heart completely stopping as she read the single, terrifying sentence scribbled frantically on the page.
"Daniel took the absolute fall for the fire, Rachel, but I was actually the one who locked the door, and I am getting out on parole tomorrow."
