Chapter 10 - A NEW BEGINNING
The following Christmas, the snow fell just as softly as it had the year before. But this time, Claire wasn't standing in her kitchen staring at a nearly empty prescription bottle.
She was in a house—not the estate, but a home they had chosen together.
Ethan was in the kitchen, trying to roast a chicken, and the smell of rosemary filled the air. Noah was in his playpen, laughing at a toy he had been given by his grandmother.
There were no billionaires at the table. There were no boards of directors, no mergers, and no deals. Just the sound of a family finding its way back to one another.
Ethan walked into the living room, a smear of flour on his cheek. He looked at Claire, and for the first time in two years, he smiled—not the cold, distant smile of a titan, but the warm, clumsy smile of a man who had finally found the only thing in the world worth having.
“It’s not perfect,” he said, gesturing to the kitchen.
Claire walked over and wiped the flour from his face. She looked at him, then at their son, and then at the window where the world outside was covered in a pristine, white blanket of snow.
May you like
“No,” she whispered. “But it’s ours.”
And for the first time, she believed it was enough.
