CHAPTER 4 — ENDING

One year later.

The Hale mansion stood empty.

The luxury cars were gone.

The parties were gone.

The people who once surrounded Victor had disappeared with remarkable speed.

Meanwhile, life moved forward.

I stood on the balcony of our new headquarters overlooking the city.

The same city Victor once claimed he would own.

My father joined me.

“You okay?” he asked.

I smiled.

For real this time.

“I am now.”

Victor eventually accepted a plea deal.

His mother sold most of her assets to cover legal costs.

Camille's recordings, intended to protect the family, became evidence that helped expose everything.

Justice had arrived slowly.

But it had arrived.

My father looked toward the skyline.

“You know,” he said, “revenge never interested me.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Really?”

He laughed.

“No. I enjoyed this one.”

For the first time in years, I laughed too.

The wind carried the sound across the city.

Not as a warning.

Not as a victory.

But as freedom.

Because the greatest punishment for people like Victor was never losing money.

It was watching the people they tried to destroy become stronger without them.

And the greatest reward was discovering that I had never been powerless.

I had only been patient.

THE END.