Chapter 10 - The Empire
Six months later.
The spring air was crisp and warm as I walked onto the patio of my new house. I had sold the old place—too many ghosts, too many bad memories of a fake marriage—and bought a sprawling, beautiful property in the suburbs, surrounded by green grass and tall oak trees.
I set my laptop on the patio table and poured myself a cup of real, uninterrupted coffee.
My PR firm was booming. The quiet ruthlessness I had shown during my divorce had inadvertently earned me a reputation in the corporate world. Clients wanted a bulldog, and I had proven I could bite.
Inside the house, Leo was laughing in his playpen, entertained by his grandmother. He was six months old, bright-eyed, rolling over, and bringing a level of joy to my life that I had never thought possible.
I opened my laptop to check my emails. A Google Alert I had set up months ago popped up on the screen.
It was a link to a local news article regarding the sentencing of Marcus Thorne. He had plead guilty to avoid a drawn-out trial, accepting a plea deal for five years in state prison, followed by heavy restitution payments. Chloe had received three years of probation and two thousand hours of community service, working sorting trash at a local sanitation facility.
I read the headline, feeling nothing but a profound, peaceful apathy. They were ghosts. Echos of a past life that no longer had any power over me.
I deleted the email and closed the tab.
Amina pulled into my driveway a few minutes later, carrying a box of pastries and two bottles of champagne. She walked onto the patio, grinning from ear to ear.
"Happy half-birthday to my favorite nephew!" Amina cheered, popping a pastry into her mouth. "And happy 'Officially the Sole Owner of Thorne PR' day to you. The final paperwork cleared this morning."
I smiled, picking up my coffee mug and clinking it against her champagne bottle.
"To new beginnings," I said.
I looked out at the massive, sunlit yard. I thought about the terrified, humiliated woman I had been at that baby shower, standing in front of a room full of people while my husband and sister tried to erase me.
May you like
They had tried to bury me. They didn't realize I was a seed.
I walked inside, scooped my beautiful, laughing son into my arms, and held him tight. I didn't need a husband. I didn't need a sister. I had built an empire on the ashes of their lies, and from the top of it, the view was absolutely breathtaking.
