Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Within twenty-four hours, the press reception was everywhere. The photos and documents had been carefully redacted, but the headlines
showed no mercy.
Mara Vance’s Perfect Image Collapses at NovaDx Event.
Affair, Fraud, and Family Betrayal: Inside the Vance Scandal.
Did Mara Vance Steal Her Sister’s Company and Her Research?
The story lingered for days, feeding on itself. Comment sections became battlegrounds. Former supporters vanished into silence My parents took Mara back to the Vance house and kept her hidden. Mother called twice. I didn’t answer. Then she left a voicemail-angry, humiliated, desperate-about whispers at the club, Father refusing calls, the Vance name turning into a punchline.
I deleted it halfway through and tossed my phone onto the couch. A dull ache bloomed in my chest, not for them, but for the little girl who had once desperately wanted their approval. That girl had died on a rooftop in my last life. Good riddance.
I had work to do.
With Ivy’s legal team and Plan B already in motion, the fraudulent transfer was reversed faster than anyone expected. Mara’s claims collapsed. Caleb’s media threats became permanent stains on the record. Summit Capital withdrew like a wounded dog.
The day I finally returned to my office, three stacks of delayed contracts waited on my desk. I had barely uncapped my pen when reception called.
“Ms. Vance, Caleb Thorne is downstairs.”
“I’m not available.”
“He says he won’t leave.”
I stared out at the golden Chicago skyline, something cold and final settling in my chest. “Send him up. Not because he deserves it. Because ! want this Chapter closed.”
When Caleb entered, he looked like a ghost of the man I once loved-tie loose, eyes red-rimmed, face drawn with exhaustion. Ten years older in
three days.
“I haven’t slept in three days,” he said, voice cracking. “I chose wrong, Ella. I thought Mara was innocent. I thought you were cold. I was stupid enough to mistake performance for goodness.”
His hands shook. His voice trembled with raw desperation. “Give me one chance. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you”
The words should have hurt. Instead, they landed like stones in still water-rippling faintly, then vanishing. All I felt was a quiet, almost pitying
exhaustion.
1
Before I could answer, the door opened again.
Declan walked in.
He looked equally wrecked-wrinkled suit, unshaven, dark circles like bruises. The two men stood side by side, tension crackling between them
like live wires.
“Don’t believe him,” Declan said, eyes locked on mine. “He only came because Mara fell apart.”
H
Chose Herl Built an Empi…
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Caleb turned on him with fury. “And you’re here out of love?”
They tore into each other, accusations flying-forced signatures, fake compliance rooms, stolen chances Old wounds ripped open in front of me
like it was my job to stitch them.
I pressed the intercom.
“Send security in.”
The guards arrived immediately.
Caleb looked startled. “Ella, wait-”
Declan stepped forward. “Let me explain-”
“No.” My voice was calm, but inside, something ancient and heavy finally snapped shut. “I’ve heard enough from both of you for two lifetimes
Security escorted them out. Caleb kept glancing back, desperate. Declan said my name once-soft, pleading. The door closed. Their voices faded.
The silence that followed felt like oxygen after drowning. I closed my eyes for a moment, letting a wave of pure, bone-deep relief wash over me No more waiting. No more hoping. No more pieces of myself handed out to men who only wanted what they couldn’t have.
My phone rang.
Ivy Cross.
“Ella,” she said without preamble. “I have an overseas project..”
When she offered partnership and escape, my pulse quickened with something bright and hopeful I hadn’t felt in years.
“Tomorrow,” I answered.
Solleft.
Three years later.
I stood on stage in Chicago accepting the Health Tech Innovation Award. The applause thundered. People who once doubted me now clapped the
loudest
The host smiled. “Dr. Vance, what’s the greatest fortune of your life?”
Everyone expected me to say NovaDx, the partnerships, the billions
I looked out at the audience and saw Caleb in the back row-alone, gripping the armrests, face pale
I knew what no one else did.
In his apartment, he still kept every sticky note I had left him in our first life.
Don’t forget to eat.
You didn’t sleep again.
Go home early.
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He had kept them like trophies, never once understanding the quiet love behind them. Never once asking why I had given so much to a man who
never chose me back.
Declan hadn’t come tonight. Instead, someone told me he had flown to our old apartment building, sat on the hallway floor for two hours holding
the unopened birthday gift I once left for him. The card still read: I know you didn’t choose me. But I chose you
Too late. Always too late.
I turned back to the microphone, a calm, unshakable smile on my face.
“The greatest fortune of my life,” I said clearly, “is that no one gets to decide who I love anymore.”
The audience laughed, thinking it was a cute line about independence.
Caleb didn’t laugh. His face was the color of a man who had finally understood exactly what he had lost-twice.
I walked off the stage. Ivy waited in the wings with champagne and that knowing smile.
“That was cruel,” she teased.
“No,” I replied, clinking my glass against hers. A quiet, profound peace settled in my chest. “That was honest.”
Behind us, Caleb remained seated in the back row, alone in a sea of empty chairs, staring at the stage where I had once stood waiting for him.
I didn’t look back.
Not even once.
