Chapter 115: Thanks for Everything
(Aurora’s POV)
I sat
He was quiet for a long moment. I could see him calculating the appeal timeline, the public exposure of a second trial, the Rathbone family’s patience wearing thin, his mother’s disapproval. He needed this finished. He needed to close this chapter so he could start the next one with Sienna.
That was his leverage against himself, and he knew I knew it.
“Fine,” he said at last. “Full market-value asset division. Structured over eighteen months.” He looked at his
lawyer. “Draw it up.”
“Rosalind’s support,” Gavin added without missing a beat.
Jasper’s eyes flicked to him. “Six thousand a month.”
“Done,” I said.
We signed the preliminary agreement forty minutes later.
I walked out of the private room with Gavin at my side and felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time – the specific lightness of a weight that had been sitting on my chest for months finally lifting clean off.
“You didn’t have to threaten the equity stake,” Gavin said as we moved through the corridor toward the lobby. “But I’m glad you did. His face was extraordinary.”
“I wasn’t entirely bluffing,” I said.
He laughed. “I know. That’s what made it extraordinary.” He held the outer door open. “You need a ride?” “No.” I shook my head. “I think I want to walk for a bit. Thank you, Gavin. For everything.”
He gave me a small, genuine smile. “You did the work. I just showed up.” He headed toward the valet
stand.
I pushed through the club’s front door and stepped out into the evening air. It was cool and clean, the kind of night that felt like a fresh page.
I took a breath.
Footsteps behind me.
I turned.
Sienna had followed me out. She was holding a thick manila envelope, and her expression was the one she wore when she thought she’d already won something.
“Feeling good about yourself?” she asked.
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Chaplet 16 Thanks tol
I didn’t answer
She held the envelope out. “You should open this before you celebrate too hard.”
I took it. Something about the weight of it made me cautious. I opened the flap and pulled out the first few
pages.
My eyes moved down the document. Then I stopped.
I read it again.
The room felt like it tilted slightly, even though I was standing outside in open air.
“Martha wasn’t with your father when she had you,” Sienna said. Her voice was almost gentle, which was worse than if she’d been cruel. “You’re not Leo’s full sister. You’re not your mother’s ex-husband’s daughter. She had you with someone else. Some man she was involved with before she married.” She tilted her head. “He’s still alive. He’s in this city. And he knows you exist.”
She watched my face for a reaction.
Then she turned and walked back inside, her heels clicking against the stone steps, and didn’t look back.
I stood there holding the envelope.
The strange thing was it didn’t destroy me the way she’d intended it to. It landed, and it hurt, but underneath the hurt was something else. Something almost like recognition.
way mothers looked at their children. Not once. The coldness, the Martha had never looked at me the cruelty, the way she’d sided with Sienna over me at every single turn for as long as I could remember – 1 had spent years trying to understand it, trying to find what I’d done wrong, trying to be better or quieter or
smaller.
This explained it. Not excused it. But explained it.
She had hated me for what I represented. And I had never been able to fix that, because it had never been
about me.
As for Leo – I turned that over carefully in my mind. Same mother, different fathers. Half-siblings, technically.
It didn’t change anything. Not one thing. He was still my brother. He would always be my brother.
I put the documents back in the envelope and tucked it under my arm.
I was done letting Sienna decide what broke me.
I texted Olivia: *Settlement’s done. Come have a drink with me.*
Her reply came in under thirty seconds: *WHERE ARE YOU I’M ALREADY PUTTING MY SHOES ON.*
I found a bar two streets over – low lighting, good music, the kind of place that didn’t take itself too seriously. Olivia arrived in twelve minutes, slightly out of breath, wearing a bright yellow jacket.
“Tell me everything,” she said, dropping into the seat across from me.
I told her. All of it – the equity threat, Jasper’s face, the final number, the support agreement. By the time I finished, Olivia had both hands flat on the table and was staring at me with undisguised delight.
“You told him you’d take over his company and fire Sienna on day one.” She shook her head slowly. “Aurora. I love you so much.”
We ordered cocktails. We clinked glasses.
A few rounds in, I told her the other thing – that I’d decided to move out of Phineas’s building.
She set her glass down. “Where are you going to go?”
“Somewhere that’s mine,” I said. “I’m going to sell the properties from the settlement and use the cash to start fresh. No more living in someone else’s space.” I looked at her. “You mentioned your building has a
vacancy.”
“It does.” Her face broke into a grin. “Move in. Move in immediately. We’ll be insufferable neighbors.”
“Deal,” I said.
We stayed another hour. When I finally got back to the apartment, it was late. I stood in the hallway for a moment, looking at the door to my unit, then at the elevator that went up to Phineas’s floor.
I thought about going up. Knocking. Saying it in person.
But I wasn’t sure I could keep my voice steady, and I didn’t particularly want to find out.
I took out my phone instead. Typed slowly.
*Phineas, thank you for everything you’ve done for me these past months. I’ve decided to move out.*
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Lucia Morh is a passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.

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