Chapter 9 - A NEW FOUNDATION
I opened my hand, and Ivy dropped the object into my palm.
It was a small, silver cross. The real rosary.
Carol gasped. "Ivy! Where did you get that?"
"Found it in the bad lady's shoe," Ivy said proudly. "She hid it. I took it back for Mr. Nate."
I couldn't help it. I laughed. A deep, chest-shaking laugh that echoed across the lawn. This three-year-old girl had single-handedly dismantled a criminal mastermind.
"Thank you, Ivy," I said, closing my hand around the rosary. "This means the world to me."
Six months later.
The ballroom at Crosswood Estate was full again, but there were no white roses, and there was no press outside. It was a staff appreciation dinner.
I stood at the balcony, looking down at the people who kept my world running. For years, I had been blind to them. I had chased wealth and status, inviting a predator into my home because she looked the part of a billionaire's wife.
Down on the floor, Carol was laughing. She wore a beautiful navy dress, her hair down, the shadows of fear completely gone from her eyes. My legal team had buried her ex-husband in so many injunctions and federal probes into his own businesses that he had formally surrendered all parental rights just to get us to back off. Carol Bennett was officially free.
And as the new Estate Manager, she had transformed the house. The staff were happy, respected, and safe.
I felt a tug on my trousers.
I looked down. Ivy was standing there, wearing a sparkly princess dress, holding a plate with a massive slice of chocolate cake.
"Mr. Nate," she demanded. "Hold my cake. I need to dance."
I smiled, taking the sticky paper plate in my hands. "Yes, ma'am."
She ran off toward the dance floor, twirling wildly to the music. Carol caught my eye from across the room and gave me a warm, grateful smile. I nodded back.
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I didn't get married that day. I lost a fiancée, a fraudulent contract, and a lot of pride.
But as I stood there watching Ivy dance, holding her chocolate cake, I knew I had gained something infinitely better. I had a home. And for the first time in my life, I knew exactly who was in it.
