Chapter 20
Katherine stepped into the studio, her heels clicking softly against the polished marble floor. It was her first official photoshoot for a Forbes feature—“Women Who Built Empires.”
She didn’t feel nervous. She felt… present.
Years ago, she would’ve checked her hair a dozen times, worried her smile wasn’t right, wondered if Julian would’ve approved of how she looked. Now, she just gave the photographer a confident nod and stood in front of the backdrop.
“You’ve got this glow,” the photographer said as he adjusted the lens. “Powerful but calm.”
Katherine smiled. “That’s what happens when you stop living for someone else.”
Click.
Click.
Click.
With every flash, she felt a chapter close behind her. The years she spent chasing affection, the heartbreak, the shame—they weren’t erased. They were just part of the story she had outgrown.
When the shoot ended, her phone buzzed.
A text from a number she hadn’t seen in a long time.
Julian Nash.
I saw your interview.
You were… everything I never gave you credit for.
I’d like to talk. Just once.
She stared at the message.
Not because it surprised her—but because she felt nothing.
No anger. No sadness. Just clarity.
She didn’t delete it.
But she didn’t respond.
Instead, she walked outside into the crisp evening air and called Noah.
He picked up on the first ring. “Hey, star of the month.”
She chuckled. “You’re exaggerating.”
“I saw the clip. They’ll be putting you on dollar bills next.”
Katherine leaned against a lamppost, watching people bustle down the street, each in their own little world. “He messaged me.”
Noah was silent for a moment. “And?”
“I’m not going to answer.”
“Good,” he said simply. “Not because he doesn’t deserve it. But because you don’t owe him anything.”
She smiled softly. “Exactly.”
As she walked down the sidewalk, her steps light and sure, she realized something important.
Closure doesn’t always come from a conversation.
Sometimes, it comes from silence.
From knowing who you’ve become without needing anyone to validate it.
She didn’t need to go back to her past to heal it.
She was already healed.
She was already whole.