Chapter 21
Julian sat in his office long after everyone else had gone home. The city outside was a sea of lights, blurred through his window like memories he couldn’t hold onto anymore.
He had sent the message.
And she hadn’t replied.
Not even a word.
He shouldn’t have expected anything different. Deep down, he knew. Katherine didn’t need closure. She had already closed the chapter—and sealed it with success.
What haunted him wasn’t just her silence.
It was the realization that she had grown in the very spaces he’d once tried to keep her small.
He looked around the office. The same glass walls. The same schedule. The same assistants who came and went. But everything felt… hollow.
Because for the first time, the world he had built felt less like an empire and more like a cage.
He picked up his phone again, re-reading the text he had sent.
I’d like to talk. Just once.
He thought about deleting it. Then about sending another. But nothing he wrote sounded right. Nothing matched the weight of three years of silence, three years of cold eyes and colder words.
So instead, he opened his email and drafted a resignation letter.
Not for himself.
For Eloise.
The truth had finally come out—about the night at the hotel, the manipulation, the lies.
She had crossed too many lines. And even though Julian hadn’t known the full extent back then, he wasn’t innocent either. He let her get away with too much for too long.
This time, he didn’t protect her.
He hit send.
Then he sat back and stared at the ceiling.
Letting go wasn’t just about Katherine.
It was about finally becoming someone who could face a mirror without flinching.
Across town, Katherine tucked herself under a soft blanket on the couch, a warm cup of tea in her hands. The television flickered in the background, but her mind wandered.
She thought of Julian sometimes—quiet moments, passing thoughts. But there was no pain anymore. Just a soft ache, like an old bruise that no longer stings.
She’d forgiven him.
Not for his sake.
But for hers.
Forgiveness didn’t mean she wanted him back. It just meant she refused to carry the weight of what he did any longer.
The doorbell rang. She opened it to find Noah holding a bag of takeout and a boyish grin.
“Thought you could use a break from being the face of Forbes,” he teased.
Katherine smiled and stepped aside. “You read it?”
“I framed it.”
She laughed, truly laughed, the kind that filled the room and her chest at the same time.
As they sat down to eat, talking about everything and nothing, she realized something profound.
The best revenge was never making someone else hurt.
The best revenge… was living well.