CHAPTER 10: Free
CHAPTER 10: Free
Six months later...
I rolled through the front doors of Rose & Wren for the first time since the trial.
The lobby fell silent.
Then every employee stood.
One by one.
They applauded.
Not because I had inherited the company.
Because I had survived.
Emma smiled from the reception desk.
"The board is waiting."
I laughed.
"They've been waiting long enough."
The business moved forward.
So did I.
Tyler received a lengthy prison sentence.
Marcus accepted a plea deal and testified against him.
Lauren divorced Tyler and built a quiet life with Mason.
As for my parents...
They sold the family home within a year.
No farewell.
No apology.
No phone call.
Only silence.
One rainy afternoon, I received a handwritten letter.
It was from my mother.
Three pages.
Mostly regret.
At the bottom she wrote:
"Can you ever forgive us?"
I folded the letter.
Placed it back into the envelope.
Then locked it inside my desk.
Some questions don't need answers.
Before leaving the office that evening, I stopped beneath the framed photograph of my grandmother.
She seemed to be smiling.
I remembered something she once told me while balancing ledgers late into the night.
"The truth always leaves a paper trail."
She was right.
It had.
The paperwork saved the company.
The evidence saved my life.
And the truth...
Set me free.
I pressed the elevator button.
The doors opened.
I rolled inside without looking back.
For the first time in my life...
May you like
I wasn't leaving my family.
I was leaving their shadow behind.
